Russia in Central Asia in 1889

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BUSSIA
IN CENTRAL ASIA
MUVTH) HY
BFOTT1SWOODB AXI)
CO.,
VEW-feTRKfiT SQTTAUE
LOXDOX
RUSSIA
CENTRAL ASIA
IN
1889
IN
AND THE
ANGLO -BU SSI AN QUESTION

BY THE
HON. GEORGE
'
N. CTJEZON, M.P.
FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLKQK, OXFORD
Hitb
jApptnbuea,
.Maps,
Illustrations,
anb
an |nbcv
Upon the Russian frontier, where

The watchers of two armies stand
Near one another*
MATTHEW ARNOLD
The StcL King in Bokhara
SECOND EDITION
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN,
AND NEW YORK:
15
EAST
16"*
1889
All
rights
reserved
ANT) CO.
STREET
TO THE GREAT ARMY OF
RUSSOPHOBES
WHO MISLEAD
KUSSOPHILES
I
OTHERS, AND
WHOM OTHERS
MISLEAD
DEDICATE THIS BOOK
WHICH WILL BE FOUND EQUALLY DISRESPECTFUL

TO THE IGNOBLE TERRORS OF THE ONE
AND THE PERVERSE COMPLACENCY OF THE OTHERS
PREFACE
THE nucleus
of this book
less
than one-third of
its
present dimensions
appeared in the shape of a series
of articles, entitled 'Russia in Central Asia/ which I
contributed to the
'
Manchester Courier and other lead-
ing English provincial newspapers, in the months of

November and December 1888, and January 1889.
These
articles
had taken
in
were descriptive of a journey which I

the months of September and October
1888, along the newly-constructed Transcaspian Railway, through certain of the Central Asian dominions of
the Czar of Russia.
Exigencies of space, however, and
the limitations of journalistic propriety, prevented me

from including in my letters a good deal of information
which
had obtained
incorporation with
maps.
and were, of course,
the
narrative
of
fatal to the
illustrations
or
Written, too, at a distance from works of refer-
and depending in some cases upon testimony

which I had no opportunity to verify or support, my
ence,
former articles contained errors which I have since been
RCNMA IX CKSTRAL ASIA
viii
These considerations, and the desire

to place before the public in a more coherent and easily
accessible shape the latest information about the in-
able to correct.
which I traversed, have encouraged

me almost entirely to rewrite, and to publish in a more
careful and extended form, my somewhat fragmentary
teresting regions
original contributions, to
which
in the interval I
have
been enabled to add a mass of entirely new

If the impress of their early character be in
material.
also
perceptibly retained, it is because I am

strongly of opinion that in descriptions of travel first
thoughts are apt to be the best, and have consequently
places at
all
sometimes shrunk from depriving my narrative of such

vividness or colour as it may have gained from being
originally written
upon the
References, figures,
while
and statistics, I have subjected to verification
such sources of contemporary history as relate to my
spot.
In. tlie absence

subject I have diligently explored.
of any Russian publications corresponding to the Blue
Books and voluminous reports of the English Govern-
ment Departments,
extremely difficult to acquire

But
full or precise information about Russian affairs.
such sources as were open to me in newspapers, articles,
it
is
&c., I have industriously studied.
I trust, therefore,
that substantial accuracy may be predicated of these

pages for, in a case where the inferences to be drawn
;
are both of high political significance, and are absolutely dependent upon the correct statement of facts, I
nil nil Id
hold
it,
a r*riinp to
PREFACE
A few words
ters do,
ix
of explanation as to what these chap-
and what they do
not, profess to be.
tensions are of no very exalted order.
They
Their preare, in the
main, a record of a journey, taken under circumstances

of exceptional advantage and ease, through a country,
the interest of which to English readers consists no
longer in its physical remoteness and impenetrability,

but rather in the fact that those conditions have just been
superseded by a new order of
tilings,
capable at any
moment
of bringing it under the stern and immediate

notice of Englishmen, as the theatre of imperial diplomacy possibly quod di avertant omen as the thresh;
old of international war.
Travel nowadays, at least in
parts to which the railway has penetrated, is unattended

with risk and is relatively shorn of adventure a de-
cadence which separates my story by a wide gulf of

division from that of earlier visitors to the Transcaspian
These pursued their explorations slowly and
regions.
laboriously, either in disguise or
amid suspicious and

deserts and through
fanatical
armed
to the teeth,
peoples, over burning
intolerable
sands.
The
later
he follows in comparative comfort the

route of which they were the suffering pioneers, may at
traveller,
as
once admire their heroism and profit by their experience.

With such forerunners, therefore, I do not pre-
sume
most remote competition.

Nor, again, can I emulate the credentials of others,
who, without necessarily having visited the country
itself, have yet, assisted by an intimate acquaintance
to enter into the
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
with the Eussian language, devoted years of patient

application to the problems which it unfolds, and, as
in the case of Mr. Demetrius Boulger and Mr. Charles
Marvin
in
works
particular,
have produced many valuable
for the instruction of their fellow-countrymen.
journey without
having made myself thoroughly acquainted with their
nor have these pages been
opinions and researches
I did
not, however, start
upon
my
written without subsequent study of every available

authority. The one distinguishing merit that I can fear-
them is that of posteriority in point

No work in the English language has ap-
lessly claim
of time.
for
peared on this branch of the Central Asian Question

for five years
and those five years have marked an
;
incalculable advance in the character
and dimensions
of the problem. With unimpeachable truth Skobelefl

once wrote in a letter 4 In Central Asia the position of
:
affairs
changes not every hour, but every minute.
Therefore I say, Vigilance, vigilance, vigilance.' The
book, 'Russia in Central Asia in 1889,'

will sufficiently indicate my desire that it should be intitle
of
my
terpreted as an account of the status quo brought

date i.e. to the autumn of the year 1889.
One other claim
make
for these pages
up
to
viz. that
they approach a problem, which in its reference to

Englishmen is almost exclusively political, from a political point of view.
Central Asia has
its
charms
for
the historian, the archaeologist, the artist, the man of

science, the dilettante traveller, for every class, indeed,
PREFACE
from the erudite to the
idle.
xi
wide
research
field of
and a plentiful return await the explorer in each of these

fields.
Although I have not been entirely forgetful of
their interests,
will
and although references
to these subjects
be found dispersed throughout the volume, I have
preferred in the main to concentrate my attention upon

such points as will appeal to those who, whether as actors
or as spectators of public affairs, feel a concern in the

Earlier travellers, such
foreign policy of the Empire.
Hungarian Vambery, the American Schuyler,

the French Bonvalot, the Swiss Moser, the English
as the
Lansdell, have devoted themselves
more
closely to the
customs, habits, and character of the natives

I
may
call the
local colouring
to
what
of the Central Asian
In these respects I have not aspired to follow

in their footsteps.
It is not my aim to produce a mag-
picture.
nified Baedeker's
Handbook
to Transcaspia.
assume
a certain foreknowledge 011 the part of my readers with

the chronology of Russian advance, and with the nature
of the conquered regions
and I endeavour only to
place clearly before them the present situation of affairs
;
not revolutionised, by the construction of

the Transcaspian Eailway and so to enable them to form
as modified,
if
a dispassionate judgment upon the achievements, policy,
and objects of Eussia, as well as upon the becoming

attitude and consequent responsibilities of England.
In the three concluding chapters I enter upon a
wider field and discuss the present aspect of the Central
Asian problem
a question which no writer should
xii
approach without a consciousness of its magnitude, or

venture to decide without long previous study.
In the interest of would-be travellers
Central Asia one
tourist
may
would say
still
speaking of
decline to use the word
in passing, that if they are fortu-
nate enough to obtain leave from St. Petersburg (no

merely formal undertaking, as the sequel will show),
they will do wisely to make the journey as soon as
they can. Let them not be deterred by exaggerated

accounts of the inhospitality of the region, or the hardThere is enough to repay them for
ships of the road.
any personal inconvenience or
The present
interest
is
material
discomfort.
moment
in the life
of unique, because transitory,

of the Oriental countries through
which the railway leads.
It is the
blank leaf between
the pages of an old and a new dispensation

the brief
interval separating a compact and immemorial tradition
;
from the rude shock and unfeeling Philistinism of nine-
The era of the Thousand
teenth-century civilisation.
and One Nights, with its strange mixture of savagery

and splendour, of coma and excitement, is fast fading
away, and will soon have yielded up
science.
Here, in the
all its
secrets to
of Alp Arslan, and Timur,

be seen the sole remaining
cities
and Abdullah Khan, may

stage upon which is yet being enacted that expiring
drama of realistic romance.
I must acknowledge a weight of obligation in many
quarters.
To the Royal Geographical Society I
am particularly
PREFACE
xiii
indebted for the permission to reprint many of the

details, contained in a paper on the Transcaspian
Railway, which I read before that body in March last,
and which
and.
still
published in their Proceedings for May

more, for the loan of the map of Central Asia,
is
executed under their instructions from the
latest in-
formation supplied by travellers, as well as from English

and Russian official maps. For the frontier lines, as delineated therein, I
to
am responsible
but I believe them
M. Lessar, now Russian

Liverpool, and formerly political
be absolutely correct.
Consul-General
attacJie to
at
the Russian Staff on the
Commission, has placed
me under
Afghan Boundary
a great obligation by
the loan of several of the photographs, which have
been reproduced in this volume and by the kindness

which induced him to peruse my original articles, and
;
to supply
me
with the means of correcting sundry
errors, as well as of amplifying the information,
which
they contained.
For the remainder of the illustrations I
am indebted
the courtesy of Major C. E. Yate, C.S.I.,
C.M.G.,
one
of
the
recently
English Boundary Commissioners
in Afghanistan
of Mr. Charles Marvin, who lent me
to
some
from Russian newspapers, drawn bv

the clever pencil of the Russian artist Karazin; and
of private friends. Of the whole of them I
may say that,
illustrations
to the best of
my
knowledge, they are new to English

readers, and have not previously appeared in any English
work, or, in fact, in any work at all.
xiv
must also thank the Editor of the 'Fortnightly

Review for permission to re-avail myself of some of the
material contained in an article upon Bokhara, which I
I
'
contributed to that magazine in January 1889.

In the appendix I have included some directions
for travellers
a table of distances in Central Asia
a chronological table, drawn up by myself, of British

and Russian movements in Central Asia in this century,
which may help
to
elucidate
the narrative
and a
Bibliography, which, without pretending to be exhaustive, claims to include the principal works to which a
necessary to have recourse in following the history of British or Russian advance in Persia,
student will find
it
Afghanistan, Turkestan, and Transcaspia, and in acquiring some familiarity with the history of those countries.
much
in
have compiled
with great care, arid with

labour, seeing that many of the titles are included
I
no extant
it
collection.
me
say that I shall welcome with grati

tude any corrections that, in the event of a later edition,
or of further publication upon the same subject, may
Finally, let
redeem error or impart greater accuracy.
GEORGE
N.
CURZON.
CONTENTS
PAttE
MEMORANDA
xxiv
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTORY
Russian railways to the Caspian Proposed Vladikavkas-Petrovsk
Caucasus tunnel Length of journey Previous travel in
line
Central Asia Foreign travellers on the Transcaspian Railway
'Previous writers on the Transcaspian Railway -Justification
Political infor a new work Varied interest of Central Asia
Eussian designs upon India The Frontier Question
terest
.
CHAPTER
TT
FROM LONDON TO THE CASPIAN

St. Petersburg
ObDifficulty in obtaining permission
servations on Russian character Hostility to Germany and
the Germans Policy of Alexander III. Russian feeling to*
wards England Russian feeling towards Austria and FranceContinuation of journey Permission granted From St. Peters-
Journey to
burg to TiflisFrom Tiflis to Baku and the Caspian

to
Approach
Uzun Ada
15
CHAPTER
III
THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY

Origin -of the idea of a Central Asian railway Scheme of M. Ferdinand de Lesseps Attitude of England Idea of a Transcaspian
railway Adoption of the plan by Skobeleif Completion to
IN GKNTRAL AMA
Kizil Arvat in
December 1881
Ideas of further extension
Opposition to the Transcaspian scheme Extension from Kizil

Arvat to the Oxus From the Oxus to Samarkand Technical
information about the line Exclusively military character
Material of the line Character and pay of the workmen
Method of construction Cost - Facilities of construction
Difficulties of water
Difficulties of sand
Contrivances to resist
the sands Difficulty of fuel and lighting Rolling-stock of the
railway Stations Duration and cost of journey
...
34
CHAPTER TV
FROM THE CASPIAN TO MKRV
Start from Uxim Ada
Character of
present and future
the scenery The Persian mountains The desert of Kara
The four oases Vegetation of the oases The Akhal-Tekke oasis
The desert landscape Variations
Statistics of its resources
of climate Geok Tepe, the old Turkoman fortress- - Story of the
Assault and
siege of Geok Tepe Preparations for assault
Pursuit and massacre of the Turkocapture, January 24, 1881
mans Impression left upon the conquered Skobeleff and the
massacre His principle of warfare Character of Skobeleff
Uxun Ada,
Knm
His marvellous courage
His caprice
Idiosyncrasies
Anec-
whims Story of the Persian Khan Final criticism

Turkoman peasants Askabad Government of Transcaspia
dotes of his
Resources and taxation Buildings of the town Strategical

importance of Askabad and roads into Persia Use of the railway by pilgrims to Meshed and Mecca The Atek oasis and
Dushak
Refusal of permission to visit Kelat and Meshed
Kelat-i-Nadiri
The Tejend
oasis
CHAPTER V
FROM MERV TO THE OXUS
Appearance of the modern Merv
the ancient
Merv
The Russian town History of

Merv Russian annexa-
British travellers at
tion in 1884 Fertility, resources, and population of the oasis

Administration, taxation, and irrigation Trade returns Future
development of the oasis Turkoman character Strategical importance of Merv Ferment on the Afghan frontier arising out
of the revolt of Is-hak Khan Movements of Is-hak and Abdurrahman Colonel Alikhanoff, Governor of Merv The Turko-
03
CO&TKNT8
man
Possible increase of the force The Turkoman

of Merv at Baku The ruined fortress of
Koushid Khan Kala Old cities of Merv Emotions of the
militia
horses
The Khans
Central Asian scenery The sand-dunes again

Description of the ancients Difficulties of the railway The
Oxus Width and appearance of the channel General Annenkoff s railway bridge Its temporary character The Oxus
traveller
105
flotilla
CHAPTER
BOKHARA
TIIK
VI
XOBLK
Continuation of the railway to Bokhara Scenery of the Khanate Approach to the city Attitude of the Bokhariots towards the
railway New Russian town Political condition of the Khanate Accession of the reigning Amir Seid Abdul Ahad Abolition of slavery Novel security of access
History of Bokhara
Previous English visitors to Bokhara Road from the station
to the city The Russian Embassy Native population Foreign
elements An industrial people Bokharan women Religious
buildings and practice The Great Minaret Criminals hurled
from the summit Assassination of the Divan Begi Torture
of the murderer Interior of the city The Righistan The
Citadel and State prison The Great Bazaar Curiosities and
manufactures Brass and copper ware Barter and currencyRussian monopoly of import trade from Europe Russian firms
in the city
Effects of the railway RestricStatistics of trade
tions on the sale of liquor
Mussulman inebriety Survival
of ancient customs Dr. Heyfelder The reshta, or guineaworm of Bokhara Bokharan army Native court and cere-
monial
Tendency
to
incorporation --Transitional
epoch at
Bokhara
151
CHAPTER
VJI
.SAMARKAND AND TASHKKXT

*
The Zerainhan
Bokharan
Danger to the city

Population and fertility of the Samarkand
district
History of Samarkand Description of monuments
renounced The Russian town Modern public buildings
Change wrought by the railway Absurd rumour of restoration
to Bokhara The Citadel
The ancient city
Zindaii, or prison
Tomb of Tamerlane -The Kighiutau Laiming minarets
valley
irrigation
Possible reforms
iii
XU8SS1A
IN CENTRAL ASIA
PAGE
Material of structure Samples of the best Arabian style

Ruins of Bibi Khanym Shah-Zindeh Need of a Society for
he Preservation of Ancient Monuments Sunset at Samarkand
Russian garrison Population Refuge of political exiles
Journey to Tashkent The tarantass Stages of the route
Hums of Afrasiab Bridge of Shadman-Melik Gates of Tamerlane The Waste of Hunger The Syr Daria and approach to
Tashkent Great fertility The two cities and societies PolitiGeneral Rosen bach and the peace policy
cal banishment
Native education
Government House Public buildings
Ancient or native city General Prjevalski and Lhasa Statistics of population
Resources, manufactures, and commerce
System of government Revenue and expenditure Territorial
expansion of Russia
.........
CHAPTER
VIII
EXTENSIONS AND EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY

Extension to Tashkent Its advantages Bourdalik and Karshi Line
Tcharjui and Kerki branch Herat extension Merv and
Penjdeh branch Proposed junction with the Indian railway
system Grave drawbacks (i.) Fiscal, (ii.) Political Favour:
able estimate of the Transcaspian Railway Possible strain in

time of war Political effects of the railway Absorption of
Turkomania Influence upon Persia Increased prestige of
Russia Commercial effects Annenkoff's prophecies Commercial policy and success of Russia Russian economic policy of
Its operation in Central Asia
Russian trade
strict protection
Imports and exports Anglo-Indian transit

British trade with Afghanistan Quotation from Foreign
Report Russian monopoly in Northern Persia and
with Afghanistan
trade
Office
Khorasan Destruction of British trade with Northern Persia

Commercial future of the Transcaspian Railway Strategical
consequences of the line Shifting of centre of gravity in Central
Asia Greater proximity of base Comparison of present with
former facilities Russian power of attack Lines of invasion
and Herat Line Strength and location of the
(i.) Caspian
Russian forces in Transcaspia Reinforcements from Europe
Latest figures
Difficulty of Caspian marine transport
:
Difficulty of landing-places
Difficulty of supplies
Serious in
Transcaspia Importance of Khorasan Complicity of Persia

Addition to offensive power of Russia (ii.) Strength and
utility of Turkestan ArmyTotal Russian strength for invasion Strength of Anglo-Indian Army for offensive purposes
204
CONTENTS
xix
1*AK
British and Russian reinforcements The issue Russian views

of the Transcaspiau Hallway as a means of offence
.
OH APT EH IX
THE ANGLO-RUSSIAN QUESTION
Existence of the problem Personal impressions Haphazard character of Russian foreign policy Arising from form of Govern-
ment
Independence of frontier officers Responsibility for

Russian mala fides Compulsory character of Russian advance
Russian conquest of India a chimera Russian attack upon
India a danger Candid avowal of Skoboleff Evidence of past
1791, (ii.) 1800,
(i.)
history Schemes of Russian invasion
Gortchakoff -Gran ville agree(ill.) 1BC7, (iv.) 1887, (v.) 1855
ment of 1872-78 (vi.) 1878 Skobeloff 's plan for the invasion
of India Military operations Later movements Subsequent
M. Zinovieff
schemes
Civilian endorsement
Reality of
Anglo-Russian question now universally admitted Russian
Evidence of Russian
illusions about British rule in India
generals Real feeling in India Regrettable Russian ignorance
Russian lines of invasion (i.) From the Pamir, (ii.) From
Samarkand and the Oxus New Russo-Afghan frontier (iii.)
Upon Herat Corresponding Indian frontier Diagram of the
two railway systems Comparison of the rival advantages
England's obligations to Afghanistan Their right interpreCounter obligations of
Jleductio ad absurdum
tation
Afghanistan British relations with Afghanistan in the past
Synopsis of policy pursued Character of Abdurrahman
Khan His health and the future Suggested partition of
Afghanistan The Afghan army Sentiments of the Afghans
towards Russia and England The future of Afghan independence Prestige of Russian numbers Policy of appointing
:
British officers in Afghanistan Impending developments of the

Anglo-Russian question (i.) Balkh-Kabul line of advance
Russian ascendency and Persian
(ii.) Tlu Persian question
weakness Real aim of Russian policy in Persia An eye upon
the Persian Gulf British policy in rejoinder Opening up of
Seistan Effects of a Seistan railway Summary of this chapter
CHAPTER
X^
RUSSIAN RULE IN CENTRAL ASIA

Merits and demerits of Russian rule Abolition of raids and gift of
Russian power firmly established
Its causes security
A*
26(
RUiMIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
xx
I'AOK
slaughter Overpowering military strength of

Russia Certainty that she will not retreat Popularity of
Russia - Laissez-faire attitude Treatment of native chiefs
Conciliation of native peoples Defects of Russian character
Low civilisation Attitude towards Mahometan religion
Towards native education Bravery and endurance of Russian
character Military ease of Russian advance Contrast be-
Memory
of
tween English and Russian facilities Comparative security

of dominions Beamy side of Russian civilisation Bad roads
General conclusions as to Russian Government Schemes for
regeneration of the country Irrigation Diversion of the Oxus
Cotton plantation Sericulture and viticulture
to its old bed
Colonisation
Attitude of Great Britain
Responsibilities of
*
fc
382
Russia
APPENDICES
J.
JI.
...........
....
TABLE OF STATIONS AND DISTANCES ON THK TRANSCAMMAN

RAILWAY
415
TARLK OF DISTANCE-;
417
IN
CENTRAL ASIA
III.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
IV.
DIRECTIONS TO TRAVELLERS IN TRANSCASPIA
V.
VJ.
VJI.
IN
CENTRAL ASIA, 1800 89
TRK\TY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND BOKHARA

TREVTY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND PERSIA
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIA
1NDKX
(187tt)
(1881)
.
421
429
482
486
440
49
"
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
To face p. GO
CLEARING AWAY THE SAND

LANDING-PLACE AND TERMINUS OF UZUN APA
THK TURKOMAN MILITIA
THE FOUR KHANS OF MERV

THE BEG OF TCHARJUI AND
HIS
......
....
COURT
62
128
182
144
OPENING OF THE Oxus BRIDGE
148
PANOR\MA OF BOKHARA
152
.......
KUBH BEGI AND AMIR or BOKHARA
.....
THE GREAT MINARET
178
THE RIGHISTAN OF BOKHARA
....
INTERIOR OF THE TOMB OF TAMERLANE
MEDRESSE OF ULUG BEG

INTERIOR OF MEDRESSE OF TILL AH KARI
....
...
RUSSIAN TASHKENT
PANORAMA OF NATIVE TASHKENT
220
292
y*
IN
184
218
MEDRESSE OF SHIR BAR AT SAMARKAND
ROMANOFF STREET
158
224
,,210
218
RUSHA JX CESTRAL
xxii
ASIA
ILLUSTRATIONS IX TEXT
.
WHARF AT BAKU-
..........
.........
PERSIAN AUBA
OF BALAKHANI
GENERAL ANNKNKOKF
PERSIAN WATKU-CAUT
OIL- WELLS
HKCTION OF WORKING-TRAIN ON THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY
81
o9
50
..........
............
........
.....
..........
.
LAYING THK RAILS
UZUN ADA.
FIXING THK TELEGRAPH-WIRES NEAR
51
65
U/UN ADA, THE SAND-DUNES, THE KOPET DAGH, AND THE KARA
KUM
C7
TRAIN OF WATER-CISTERNS
70
THE PERSIAN MOUNTAINS AND THE DESERT
71
TURKOMAN KIBITKAS
74
TURKOMAN VILLAGE AND ORCHARDS
......
......
.......
..........
......
..........
.......
......
........
..........
........
........
.
1)3
TEKKK CHIEFS OF THE TEJEND OASIS
108
BRIDGE OVER THE MURGHAB AT MERV
107
AKSAKALB, OR ELDERS OF
TURKOMAN HORSEMEN
THK FORT
OF KOUSHID
RUINS OF BAIRAM ALI
MERV
KHAN KALA
TOMB OF SULTAN SANJUR
120
100
134
1555
137
RUINED CARAVANSERAI AT BAIRAM ALI
138
THE RAILWAY AND THE SANDS
143
THE Oxus FLOTILLA
149
GATE AND WALL OF BOKHARA
168
RUSSIAN EMBASSY AT BOKHARA
109
JEWS
OF.
BOKHABA
.173
LIST OF rLLUHTltATIOXX
xxiii
PUIK
MEDRESRE AT BOKHARA
MAIN STREET OF BOKHARV
.381
170
LJABEHAUS DIVAN BECH
18'2
MILITARY PARADE AT BOKHARA
11)8
PALACE OF THE AMIR
'200
.......
..........
GOVERNOR'S HOUSE AT SAMARKAND
GUR
214
AMIR, OR TOMB OF TAMERLANE
RUINS OF BIBI KHANYM AT SVMARKAND

INTERIOR OP THE MEDRESSE OF BIBI KHANYM
MAUSOLEUM OF SHAH ZINDEH
218
2*24
...
........
.......
......
........
......
.
225
227
TCHARSU, OR BAZAAR, AT SAMARKAND
281
NEW
246
RUSSI\N CATHEDRAL AT TASHKENT
MILITARY CLUB AT TASHKENT
BEULKR BEG MKJ>REHSE, TASHKENT
MAPS.
RUSSIAN CENTRAL ASIA AND THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY
.....
SKELETON MAP OF RAILWAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
To face
,,
247
250
MEMORANDA
The dates
New
style,
book are reckoned by the English Calendar, or

being twelve days in advance of the Greek and Russian
in this
Calendar, or Old style.
two
The rouble
shillings in English
(weight)
= 36 English Ibs.
money.
is
One
computed as equivalent to
verst
=$
mile.
One poud
RUSSIA IN CENTEAL ASIA

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
<
No
pleasure
is
comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of

Truth.'- BACON. Essay I. Of Truth.
Russian railways to the Caspian Proposed Vladikavkas-Petrovsk

Caucasus tunnel Length of journey Previous travel in
line
Central Asia Foreign travellers on the Transcaspian. Kailway
Previous writers on the Transcaspian Bailway Justification for
a new work Varied interest of Central Asia Political interest
Russian designs upon India The Frontier Question.
I PROPOSE in
this
book
ill
to narrate the impressions

T
derived from a journey along the newly- completed

Russian line of railway from the Caspian to Samar-
kand.
in a
On May
backward
was still
could
and
not
condition,
certainly be
27, 1888, although the line
described as available for general traffic, the longexpected ceremonial of opening took place ; and the
name 'of General Annenkoff was flawed to all quarters

of the globe as that of the man who had successfully
accomplished a feat
sible,
till
lately declared to
be impos-
and had linked by an unbroken chain of steam

B
Russian
railways
to the
Caspian
locomotion the capital of Peter the Great with the

capital of Tamerlane.
Along the most direct route
Petersburg to the terminus at Samarkand
there exist now only two breaks to the through communication by rail, viz. the 135 miles of mountain
from
St.
road between Vladikavkas on the northern spurs of

the Caucasus and Tiflis on the south, and the passage of the Caspian.
Proposed
kavkas-
Lme
The former, it is said, will soon be obviated by a

railway, for which plans and surveys have already
been made, and which the Eussian Government has
been strongly petitioned to construct, from Vladikavkas to Petrovsk on the Caspian, a distance of 165
miles.
The
cost of this branch has been estimated
an average of 10,000. a mile. From Petrovsk the

would be continued south along the western
shore of the Caspian to Derbent and Baku, at an
at
line
Such a
additional cost of 500,000/.
line,
apart from
its military advantages,

might acquire great commercial importance, as affording an easy and uninterrupted entry into European Eussia from the
Caspian, the port of Petrovsk being open to navigation all the year round, while the Volga is closed by
a project which we may

therefore expect to see carried out before Jong.
It has also been proposed,
as an alternative,' to
r r
ice in the winter.
Caucasus
Tunnel
It is
drive the railroad
by a tunnel through the heart of
the main Caucasian range, from Vladikavkas, or a

point west of Vladikavkas on the northern, to Gori
on the southern
Tiflis line,
would join the Batoumdistance from point to point being
side,
the total
where
it
INTRODUCTORY
110 miles.
Shorter and more expeditious as this

it would involve
long and laborious
route would be,
tunnelling, as well as a prodigious outlay, the official

estimate being over 30,000/. a mile. It is accordingly
extremely improbable that it will, for some time at

any rate, be taken in hand. In any case, while either
remains unlaid, and the Kazbek range continues,

as now, to be traversable by road alone, a supplemen-
line
tary steam route is provided by the Black Sea Service

from Odessa or Sebastopol to Batoum, whence the
railroad runs direct to Baku on the Caspian.
The second interruption which I named

through transit by rail from the western
to the
to
the
eastern terminus, viz. the Caspian, involves marine

transport, and a short sea crossing of nineteen, which
might easily be reduced to fifteen or sixteen, hours.

Even under the present conditions, which in them-
Length
of
from developed, the journey from St.

Petersburg to Samarkand can be accomplished in ten
or eleven days, and with a more apt correspondence
selves are far
of trains and steamers might easily be accelerated.

When one or other of the afore-mentioned schemes
has been carried into
effect,
two days
at least
may be
struck off this total v

Prior to the construction of this railway the opportunities enjoyed by Englishmen of visiting the
region which it now lays open had been few and far
between. Since the intrepid Dr. Wolff penetrated at
Bokhara in 1843, to clear up

the fate of Stoddart and Conolly in the preceding
year, there was no English visitor to the city of the
the risk of his
life
to
B 2
Previous
centraT
Amir
1882.
till
the so-called missionary, Dr. Lansdell, in
Similarly, before the publication of thelatter's
book, we owed
have in
main such descriptions as we

our own language of Samarkand to the pen
in the
of a Hungarian in the person of Professor Vamb^ry,

and of an American in that of Mr. Schuyler. As
regards other parts of the
till
now
forbidden region,
Merv, though visited by Burnes, Abbott, Shakespear,

Thomson, and Wolff between 1832 and 1844, relapsed
and was
after that date into obscurity,
little
more
than a mysterious name to most Englishmen till the

adventurous exploit of O'Donovan in 1881 and it is
;
difficult to realise
that a place
which
than a
less
decade ago was pronounced to be the key of the

Indian Empire is now an inferior wayside station on
Such efforts as were made at
a Eussian line of rail.
different times
by independent
in disguise
and
the
incognita
terra
British officers, often
at the peril of their lives, to explore
on the borders of Persia and
Afghanistan, were sedulously discouraged by the

Home or Indian Government, in nervous deference
to Muscovite sensitiveness, ever ready to take um-
brage at an activity displayed by others which

ostentatiously incited in
its
own
pioneers.
it
has
Colonel
Valentine Baker recalled from the Atrek region in
1873, Captain Burnaby from Khiva in 1875, Colonel

MacGregor from Meshed in 1875, and Colonel Stewart
from Persia in 1881, all attest the mistaken policy of

abandoned opportunities, and the tactical blunder of
allowing a rival mariner to steal your wind.
Although
the
almost
insuperable
difficulties
INTRODUCTORY
hitherto connected with travel in these parts have

_
i
i
TI
T
it cannot be said that all impedinow disappeared,
7
rr
.
'
ments to the Jiourney

J have ceased to exist
even
;
'
while,'
they had, the necessary resources of exploration are not such as any but 'a few individuals will
The Eussian Government,
in all probability possess.
if
which has always looked with extreme
irritation
upon
the intrusion of Englishmen into its Asiatic territories, is not likely to have been converted off-hand
by the cosmopolitan professions
of General Aimenkoff,
and can hardly be suspected of such gratuitous unbe willing to turn a purely military
line, constructed for strategical purposes of its own,
In the first flush of
into a highway for the nations.
selfishness as to
triumphant pride at the completion of the undertaking, foreign journalists were, it was asserted, freely
invited to take part in the inaugural ceremonies. But
when the complimentary party assembled at Baku, it
was found
to consist, in addition to the relatives of
General Annenkoff, of Frenchmen alone, who with

one accord made to their host the becoming return
of impassioned eulogies in the columns of the Parisian
press, which in the summer of last year blossomed
with the record of their festive proceedings. Frenchmen have indeed for some time, owing to political
considerations, been in high favour in Eussia, and
have long found in their nationality an open sesame

Some of the
to the Eussian dominions in the east.
best and most recent books of travel about Turko-
mania and Turkestan,
in a
language intelligible to the

average Englishman, have been by French writers,
Foreign
travellers
on the
Transcas-
an
Railway
p|
who may
when
treating of Eussian affairs,

be trusted to be enthusiastic and entertaining, even
always,
spondent at
join the
'
The
Times
correprofound.
to
an
received
invitation
Petersburg
seldom
though
St.
same company
but owing to a
difficulty in
procuring the requisite official permission, found himself a few days in arrear of the
party, and the line in
a state of disorganisation bordering on collapse, consequent upon a strain to which in those early days
it was as
I had the good fortune
yet unaccustomed.
be a member of the next foreign party that

travelled over the line, the origin of our enterprise
to
being an agreement which was reported to have been

entered into between General Annenkoff and the
Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits in Paris,

and an intimation of which was published in the
newspapers in the summer of 1888. No very precise
intelligence about the nature of this agreement was
forthcoming but upon the strength of its announce;
ment would-be
visitors to
Merv and Samarkand were
understood to be converging upon Tiflis shortly before

the
time
when
I left
England
in the first days of
September 1888.
Previous
No
English newspaper published a detailed acbut

count of the new railway except the ' Times
the interesting letters of its correspondent, Mr. Dobson,
*
which appeared between the months of August and

October 1888 inclusive, written as they were from
the point of view of a tourist narrating his personal
experiences rather than of a politician endeavouring to
form some estimate of the situation,
left
an unoccu-
INTRODUCTORY
pied field for later travellers with a more ambitious

Two short papers on the Transcaspian Eailway
aim.
'
appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette in the month of
'
1888, written by the editor of that journal from
May
pamphlets on the
railway in its earlier stages are to be found among
the works of Mr. Charles Marvin. 1
Major C. E. Yate,
St.
Chapters and
Petersburg.
who
travelled over the line, while part of
in process of construction,
in
February 1888, on
it
was
yet
from Tcharjui to the Caspian

from the Afghan
his return
Boundary Commission, appended a chapter on his

experiences to his excellent book entitled Northern
'
Professor
Afghanistan.'
an
article to
Vambery
also
contributed
an English magazine on the subject
in
An
abridged translation of a Bussian pamphlet on the railway has recently appeared in India
from the pen of Colonel W. E. Gowan. 3 To the best of
1887.
my
knowledge these are the only descriptions pub-
lished in the English language of General Amienkoff's
scheme
and of
their
tion of the 'Times
number not
'
letters,
one, with the excep-
has been penned since
its
completion. In the French tongue, as I have indicated,

there has been a more luxuriant crop of descriptive
literature.
One
special correspondent has since given
world a substantial volume, the quality of which

be fairly inferred from the fact that out of 466
to the
may
pages in the entire work, he does not land his readers

at
Uzun Ada,
the starting point of the railway,
till
the
Vide the Bibliography at the end of this volume.

Fortnightly Review, February 1887.
8
The Transcaspian Railway, its meaning and its future.
lated and condensed from the Russian of I. Y. Vatslik.
2
Trans-
185th page, or
start
them on
his journey
from there
Another correspondent sent a batch

page 807.
of singularly flimsy letters to the Temps.'
third,
with far superior literary pretensions, the Vicomte
till
'
Emile
cle
VogUc*, a French Academician and brother-
in-law of General Annenkoff, published his own expe*

But his articles,
riences in the Journal des Debats.'
though characterised by an agreeable fancy and by

all the picturesqueness of the Gallic idiom, added
nothing to our previous stock of knowledge on the
A young French officer, the Comte de
subject.
Cholet,
who
travelled over the line in 1888,
and
in
the disguise of a Cossack officer, accompanied Alikhanoff, the Governor of Merv, upon an interesting
tour of inspection along the Afghan frontier, has

lately written a book, which, though it repays perusal,
is
devoted to his personal adventures rather than to
2
popular instruction.
A later writer may find

.... riir
justifies
tion for a.
new work
for gleaning
some excuse, therefore
m a field from which so scanty a harvest
has already been garnered and although the ground

which he traverses will be to some extent familiar to
;
the
more advanced students of Central Asian
and
topography,
there will
not
access
Societies, or
specialists,
politics
many who have
proceedings of Geographical
have not explored the writings of
the
to
who
to
be
whose
concern
he
may
justifiably
appeal.
1
En
Asie Centrale a la Vapeur.
Par Napoleon Ney.
Paris.
1888.
3
Excursion en Turkestan
Par Lieut, le Comte de Cholet.
et
sur la Frontibre Rusao-AfgJwtne.
Paris.
1889.
INTRODUCTORY
indeed to imagine a region

accessible that opens
out so wide
r
It is scarcely possible
of the world at
all
and manifold a horizon of
who
has
made
The
interest.
traveller
a periplus of the universe,, and, like
Ulysses,
Much has seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,
yet confess to a novel excitement as he threads
the bazaars of remote Bokhara, or gazes on the
coronation stone -and sepulchre of Timur at Samar-
may
kand.
He
will not look for the first time without
emotion on the waters of the Oxus, that famous river

that,
like the
Euphrates and the Ganges,
rolls
its
stately burden down from a hoar antiquity through

In the Turkoman
the legends and annals of the East.
of the desert, and the turbaned Tartar of the Khanates,
he will see an original and a striking type of humanity.
Something too of marvel, if not much of beauty, must

there be in a country which presents to the eye a
succession of bewildering contrasts
where, in fine
where
vicissitude, grandeur alternates with sadness
the scarp of precipitous mountains frowns over an
;
unending plain
islets
amid
shoreless seas of sand
rivers perish in
cities
felt,
where spots of verdure
marsh and swamp
lie
where mighty
where populous
are succeeded as a site of residence
and sedentary
toil as
vagrant freedom of the desert.
strewn like
by
tents of
mode
of life by the
The lover of ancient
history may wander in the footsteps of Alexander or

retrace the scorching track of Jenghiz Khan may
;
varied
central
Asia
10
compare his Herodotus with his Marco Polo, and

both with facts may search for some surviving relic
;
of a lost European civilisation, of the Bactrian or

Sogdian kingdoms, or for the equally vanished mag-
The student of modern
nificence of the Great Mogul.
history will welcome the opportunity of renewing his

acquaintance on the spot with the successive steps of
Russian advance from the
colony on the Caspian

to the latest
the Murghab and the
âcquisitions on
and
will
Ileri-Bud;
eagerly pause at Merv, the
first
dethroned 'Queen of the World/ or inspect the
mouldering ramparts of Geok Tepe, where the Akhal

Tekkes made their last heroic stand against Skobfeleff
and the legions of the Great White Czar. Before his
eyes the sands of an expiring epoch are fast running
out ; and the hour-glass of destiny is once again
being turned on
political
But the
folds,
and
to
its
base.
political
which
it
problems which the route un-
may
in part supply a key, will
be to many more absorbing
still.
Is this railway
the mere obligatory threac] of connection by which

Russia desires to hold together, and to place in easy
inter-communication, her loosely scattered and hete

rogeneous possessions in Asia or is it part of a great
design that dreams of a wider dominion and aspires
;
to a
more splendid goal ?
Is it
an evidence of con-
centration, possibly even of contraction, or
is
it
symbol of aggrandisement and an omen of advance
a
?
Russian expansion in Central Asia has, it is often

said, proceeded in recent years in such inverse proportion, both to the
measure of her own assurances
INTRODUCTORY
11
and to the pressure of natural causes, that we are

tempted to ask quousque tdndem^ and may perhaps
find in General
AnnenkofTs achievement the clue
to
a reply.
Upon no
there greater conflict of

than Russia's alleged designs
opinion in England
upon
Are we
India.
is
question
to believe, as General
(the hero of the celebrated ride
Grodekoff
from Samarkand to
Herat in 1878) told Mr. Marvin at St. Petersburg in

no practical Eussian general believes
1882, that
in the possibility of an invasion of India/ and that
*
the millennium will take place before Russia invades

India ?
Or are we to hold with General TchernaiefF,
'
a once even superior authority, that c the Russian

invasion of India is perfectly possible, though not
Or,
easy?'
rejecting
the
mean and
the
extreme
opinion on the one side, shall we fly to the other,

and confess ourselves of those who trace from the
apocryphal will of Peter down to the present time

a steadfast and sinister purpose informing Russian
policy, demonstrated
vance,
up by
moment
lit
for a
by
evjery successive act of ad-
a holocaust of broken promises, and
appears to halt in its realisation,

merely reculant pour mieux sauter, the prize of its
ambition being not on the Oxus or even at the Hindu
if
Kush, but
Ocean ?
it
at the delta of the
Ganges and the Indian
aggrandisement appear too

mean a motive, shall we find an adequate explanation
in commercial cupidity, and detect in Muscovite
Or,
if territorial
statesmanship a pardonable desire to usurp the hegemony of Great Britain in the markets of the East ?
Russian
upon India
12
Or
again, joining a perhaps wider school of opinion,

shall we admit the act, but minimise the offensive
character of the motive, believing that Eussia intentionally keeps open the Indian question, not with
any idea of supplanting Great Britain in the judgment-seat or at the receipt of custom, but in order
may have
advantage, and may
that
by
she
her rival at a permanent disparalyse the trunk in Europe
Or, lastly, shall we

galling the limb in Asia?
the sentimental style, and expatiate on the
affect
great mission of Kussia, and the centripetal philanthropic force that draws her like a loadstone into
the heart of the Asian continent?
All these are
which are held,

by large sections of Englishmen, and upon which a
visit to the scene of action may shed some light.
views which
Such a
it is
visit, too,
possible to hold, or
should enable the traveller to form
some impression of the means employed by Russia

to reconcile to her rule those with whom she was so
lately in violent conflict,
and
to
compare her genius
for assimilation with that, of other

Is the
conquering races.
apparent security of her sway the
artificial
product of a tight military grip, or is it the natural

outcome of a peaceful organic fusion ? How do her
methods and their
compare with those of

England in India ? Very important and far-reaching
such questions are; for upon the answer to them
results
which the genius of two nations
upon
is
engaged in tracing
the scroll of history, will depend the destinies
of the East.
There remain two other questions, upon each of
INTRODUCTORY
which
The
13
hope to furnish some practical information.
a comparison of the relative strength for

offensive and defensive purposes of the Russian and
first is
now brought
so close together, and

the initial advantages enjoyed by either in the event
The second is the feasiof the outbreak of war.
British frontiers,
bility,
and,
if
that be admitted, the likelihood or the
wisdom of any future junction of the two railway

systems whose most advanced lines at Dushak and at
Chaman, are separated by a gap of only 600 miles.
General Annenkoff, we know, has all along advocated
such an amalgamation and although past history,
;
the prejudices of the two countries, the intervention

of Afghanistan, and a whole host of minor .contin-
gencies are arrayed against him, the plan must not,

therefore, be condemned offhand as chimerical, but
is
at least
worthy of examination.
In concluding this chapter, let me add that I

shall endeavour to approach the discussion of political
issues in as impartial a spirit as I
do not
class myself either
can command.
with the Eussophiles or
I am as far from echoing the

the Russophobes.
hysterical shriek of the panic-monger or the Jingo as
am
from imitating the smug complacency of the

politician who chatters about Mervousness only to
I
find that
Merv
is
gone, and thinks that imperial ob-
be discharged by a querulous diplomatic protest, or evaded by a literary epigram.

Whatever be Russia's designs upon India, whether
ligation is to
they be serious and inimical or imaginary and fantastic, I hold that the first duty of English statesmen
The
Question
14
to render any hostile intentions futile, to see that

our own position is secure, and our frontier impregnable, and so to guard what is without doubt the
noblest trophy of British genius, and the most splendid
is
appanage of the Imperial Crown.
15
CHAPTER
II

*
Journey to
St.
Eastward the Star of Empire takes
its
way.'
PetersburgDifficulty of obtaining permission
vations on Bussian character
Hostility to
Germany and
Obserthe Ger-
mans
Policy of Alexander III. Bussian feeling towards England

Bussian feeling towards Austria and France Continuation of
journey Permission granted From St. Petersburg to Tiflis
From
IN the
Tiflis to
Baku and
the Caspian
Approach
to
Uzun Ada.
summer and autumn months an
express train
leaves Berlin at 8.30 in the morning, and reaches
St. Petersburg on the evening of the
following day.
from England can either catch this train

by taking the day boat from Queenborough to
Flushing, and making the through journey without a
traveller
halt, in
which case he
in sixty-one hours
will reach the
Eussian capital
or
by taking the night boat to

Flushing, and reaching Berlin the following evening,
he can allow himself the luxury of a night between
;
the sheets before proceeding on his way.

At 8.30
P.M. on the day after leaving Berlin he is
deposited
on the platform of the Warsaw station at St. Peters-
is
The journey
vid St. Petersburg and Moscow

not, of course, the shortest or most expeditious
burg.
route
to
the
Caucasus
and
the
Caspian.
The
Journey to
6
burg
RUSSIA IN GJSNTRAL ASIA
16
quickest route, in point of time, is vid Berlin to

Cracow, and from there by Elisavetgrad to Kharkov
on the main Eussian line of railway running south
from Moscow, whence the journey is continued to

A less fatiguing
Vladikavkas and the Caucasus.
but rather longer deviation is the journey by
from Cracow to Odessa, and thence by sea
Batoum, and
alternative
is
train
the
to
Tiflis
and Baku.
new overland
nople, and thence by steamer
to
rail
to
third
route to Constanti-
Batoum.
I travelled,
however, vid St. Petersburg and Moscow, partly

because I wished to see those places, but mainly
because I hoped at the former to obtain certain information and introductions which might be useful
to
me
and Transcaspia. Moreover, the

Eussia cannot do better than acquire his
in Georgia
stranger to
impression of her power and importance at the

seat of government, the majestic emanation of Peter's
first
Difficulty
mission
genius on the banks of the Neva.

When I left London I was assured by the representatives of the Wagon- Li ts Company that all necessary arrangements had been made, that a special
permit, une automation spedale, to visit Transcaspia
had been obtained, and that the .rest of the party

had already started from Paris. Not caring to share
in the earlier
movements of the excursion, which
in-
volved a delay in Europe, I proposed to join them at

Vladikavkas. As soon, however, as I reached St.
Petersburg I had reason to congratulate myself upon
having gone to headquarters at once, for I found

that matters had not been quite so smoothly
17
arranged, and that there were formidable obstacles

still
be overcome.
to
The Russian Government
is
a very elaborate and strictly systematised, but also

and the
a very complicated, piece of machinery
motive power required to set its various parts in
;
action
is
often out of
achieved.
or
It
difficult
all
proportion to the result

to be a very serious
would not seem
matter to determine whether a small
party less than a dozen of tourists should be

allowed to travel over a line, the opening of which
had been trumpeted throughout

Europe, and an invitation to travel by which had
originated from the director-general of the line him-
to passenger traffic
self.
However, things are not done quite so simply
at St. Petersburg.
sion
in
question
It transpired that for the
the
permisconsent of five independent
must be sought: (1) The GovernorGeneral of Turkestan, General Eosenbach, whose

headquarters are at Tashkent
(2) the Governorauthorities
General of Transcaspia, General Komaroff, who resides

at Askabad
(3) the head of the Asiatic department
;
of the Foreign Office at St. Petersburg, M. Zinovieff;

(4) the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Giers, or
his colleague, General Vlangali
(5) the Minister for
War, General Vanoffski the last named being the

supreme and ultimate court of appeal. All these
independent officials had to be consulted, and their
;
concurrent approval obtained.
My first
had yet
discovery was that not one of this
signified his assent,
number
and very grave doubts
were expressed by General Vlangali, in answer to

c
18
inquiries, as to the likelihood of their doing so.
even heard that the Italian Embassy had applied for

leave for an officer in the Italian army, and had been
The only Englishmen in

point blank refused.
addition to two or three Indian officers, who, joining
the railway at TcharjuLor
Merv on
their return
from
to whom
India, had travelled by it to the Caspian
official permission had so far .been granted were the
Dr. Lansdell, who had

correspondent
another
roving expedition of
upon
mingled Bible distribution and discovery in Central
Asia and Mr. Littledale, a sportsman, who had with
*
Times
'
recently started
great difficulty obtained leave to go as far as Samarkand with a view of proceeding from there in quest
of the ovis poll in the remote mountains of the Pamir.
In this pursuit I record with pleasure the fact that
the last-named gentleman was entirely successful,

being the first Englishman who has ever shot a male
specimen of this famous and inaccessible animal.

Matters were further complicated by the absence of
War, who was accompanying the

Czar in his imperial progress through the south. One
of my earliest steps was to seek an interview with the
the Minister for
representative at St. Petersburg of the
Compagnie
des Wagon-Lits, and to inquire what steps he had

taken or proposed to take. I found that he had as
yet obtained no assurance of 'official ratification, but
was relying upon the patronage and promises of
General Annenkoff,
be in Nice.
to call
who was
absent and believed to
I was, however,
recommended by him
upon M. Mestcherin, the resident engineer
to
19
who had greatly interested himself in the

and
was doing his utmost to further its
expedition
The first item of reassuring news that I had
success.
the railway,
telegram had been

Eosenbach, to whom the
names of the proposed party had been submitted,
and another of a similar
signifying his approval
character was hourly expected from General Komaroff.
received
fell
from his
lips.
received from General
This intelligence was the more satisfactory, because I

heard from M. Mestcherin that it was upon General
Eosenbach's supposed objections that the authorities

the
at St. Petersburg had principally based theirs
;
General's hostility being attributed to his unwillingness to have a party of foreigners anywhere near the
frontier,
Khan
pending the unsettled rebellion of Is-hak
against the
Afghan Amir in a quarter of Afghan
Turkestan at so short a distance from the Eussian

I confess I regarded this as a plausible objec-
lines.
tion,
though I hardly thought that the situation would

the casual and almost
much aggravated by
be
meteoric transit of a harmless party of polyglot tourists over the railway line.
However, these scruples,
if
entertained,
had now been abandoned, and the
hope presented itself that the confidence displayed

by General Eosenbach might awake a similar generosity in the breasts of his official superiors in the
M. Mestcherin had no doubt whatever that

would be the case. Of certain information which
he gave me on the subject of the railway I shall
capital.
this
speak in a subsequent chapter. I left his apartments

in a more sanguine frame of mind than I had yet
02
20
ventured to
indulge.
the
Nevertheless,
fact
that
there had lately been an accident on the line, owing
apparently to
its
imperfect construction, in which
more persons than one were said to have been killed,

and the rumoured total breakdown of the bridge over
the Oxus at Tcharjui, were discouraging omens, and
suggested a possible explanation for the reluctance of
the Bussian official world to admit the inquisitive
eyes of strangers.
These were arguments, however,
which could have no weight with General Annenkoff,

who was credited with an absolute confidence in the
capacities
of
sympathies I
his
staff,
and
had no reason
whose
cosmopolitan
to question.
Petersburg, and being brought

into communication with residents there, as well as
Passing through
RuBeian
character
St.
with Eussians in other parts of

.
my
journey, there
were certain impressions upon the more superficial

aspects of Russian politics which I could not fail to
derive.
Among
these the strongest
was perhaps the
expected and the most agreeable.

If it is an exaggeration to say that every Englishman enters Bussia a Bussophobe, and leaves it a Bus-
least
sophile, at least
it is
true that even a short residence
in that country tempers the earlier estimate
may have been
which he
led to form of the character of the
population and its rulers. This is mainly attributable

to the frank and amiable manners and to the extreme
civility of the people,
from the highest
official to
The Russian gentleman has
the
humblest moujik.
all
the polish of the Frenchman, without the vague suggesthe Bussian lower class may
tion of Gallic veneer
;
21
be stupid, but they are not, like the Teuton, brusque.

The stranger's path is smoothed for him by everyone
to whom he appeals for help, and though manners do
not preclude national enmities, at least they go a long
way towards conciliating personal friendships.
second reason for the altered opinion of the
Englishman
is
his early discovery that there is
no
widespread hostility to England in Russia and that

he -and his countrymen are by no means regarded as
a German, for instance, or more latterly an Italian
;
regarded in France, or as an Austrian used to be

regarded in Italy. Nothing can be more clear than
is
main and dominating
that the
mind
in
relation to
feeling of the Eussian
foreigners
is
overpowering dislike of German}''.

upon which any Eussian statesman,
an abiding and
This is a chord
much more any

absolute
can
with
Slavophile,
play
certainty of response, and which rings even to the touch of a pass-
ing or accidental hand. Dislike of German manners,

distrust of German policy, detestation of German
individuality, these
expressed on
were sentiments which I heard
all sides
without a pretence of conceal-
and which I believe have grown into an
ment,
intuitive instinct with this generation of the Eussian
people.
I could give several instances of this ani-
mosity, but will content myself with two or three
which came under my own notice. A Eussian officer

explained to me an alleged case of brutal treatment
of a child by its parents by the remark Que voulez*
vous?
C*est
official,
un Allemandl'
whose opinion
From another Eussian
I elicited in conversation, I
Hostility
to Ger-
many and
man8
22
received the emphatic declaration c Ce sont des barbares'

Russian gentleman and large landed proprietor volunteered the information, in which he saw
nothing remarkable, that he so abhorred Germany that

if
passing through that country nothing would induce
spend a night at Berlin. A feeling so

and so widespread cannot be without
deep
serious and solid foundation any more that it can be
him even
to
as this
ignored in casting the horoscope of Russia's future.

To trace the sources of this anti-Teuton feeling would
lead
me
too far from
my
subject,
and would require
a digression that might easily swell into a treatise.

But it is not difficult to discover on the surface of
Russian
at
life,
both public and private, a score of points
which German
friction,
contact
or
means
For not
competition
and may readily generate hatred.
sentiment a political sentiment, arising

from the near propinquity and overwhelming preponderance of German power in Europe, from the usur-
only
is this
pation in Continental politics by a new-fledged empire

of the military ascendency claimed by Russia at the
beginning of this century, and from the belief that

Russia has been thwarted at every point of the international compass, and has suffered, instead of gaining,
by the Berlin Treaty alike in Servia, Bulgaria, and

Roumania, owing to the dark machinations of Bismarck alone
not only, I repeat, is this a popular
;
impression, but the individual German

into
constant
and disagreeable
is
collision
brought
with the
Russian in the relations of ordinary life. An aristocracy and landed proprietary largely German, a
23
bureaucracy and official clique stocked with German

names, a reigning dynasty that is of German extraction
German monopoly of business,
trade,
and bank-
ing on the largest scale, and formidable German

competition in the more humble spheres of industry
the preference given by men of business and owners
;
of estates to
whose
an
German managers,
thrifty
infinitely
and trustworthy capacities render them

preferable choice to the corrupt and
careless Russian
thesis
one
stewards, or agents,
above
between German
the overwhelming antiand Russian character, the

all,
uncompromising, stiff, precise the other

all these facts
sleepy, nonchalant, wasteful, and lax
have branded their mark on Russian opinion with
vigilant,
the indelible potency of some corrosive acid, and have

engendered a state of feeling which a prudent fear
temporarily disguise but will not permanently

mitigate, and which the mutual amenities of emperors
may
gloss over but cannot pretend to annul.

In the present reign this anti-German feeling has
i
i
T
XT
n
reached a climax. .Naturally a man of conservative
may
r*
and driven partly by circumstances, partly

by irresponsibility, into illiberal and reactionary extremes, Alexander III. has for some time devoted
instincts,
himself to stamping out of Russia all non-Russian

elements, and setting up an image, before which all
must
fall
down and
worship, of a Russia, single,
homogeneous, exclusive, self-sufficing, self-contained.

Foreign names, foreign tongues, a foreign faith,
particularly if the one are Teuton, and the other is
Lutheran, are vexed, or
prohibited,
or
assailed.
Policy of
Alexander
in.
24
Foreign competition in any quarter, commercial or

otherwise, is crushed by heavy deadweights hung
round
its
neck.
Foreign concessions are as
flatly
refused as they were once eagerly conceded. The

Government even declines to allow any but Eussian
money
to
be
invested
in
Eussian
undertakings.
Foreign managers and foreign workmen are under a

bureaucratic ban. German details are expunged from
the national uniform; the
bidden
German language is forGerman
in the schools of the Baltic provinces
The stranger that

is within thy gates
is the bug-bear and bete noire of
Muscovite statesmanship.
There is no cosmopoli-
fashions are proscribed at court.
'
'
tanism in the governing system of the Czar. What

Eussians call patriotism, what foreigners call rank
6
Eussia for
keynote of his regime.
the Eussians/ has been adopted as the motto, not of
a radical faction, but of an irresponsible autocracy,
selfishness, is the
and
is
preached, not by wild demagogues, but by an
all-powerful despot.
While this attitude
the
relations
is
universally exemplified in
between Eussia and Germany, and is

commercial and imperial policy
also typical of the
which she adopts towards

the
latter
case
this country, it is
not in
accompanied or followed by any
personal or national antipathy.
Of
political hostility to
Great Britain there
may
be a certain amount, particularly in the governing

hierarchy and in the army, arising from the obvious
fact that the interests of the
been diametrically opposed
two nations have long

in
the
settlement
of
25
Russia's chief end of action, the Balkan Peninsula,
and from the strained
relations
between the two
countries springing out of the events that so nearly
culminated in war in 1885.
This feeling, however,
accompanied by a candid respect for the confidence,

and what Carlyle somewhere called the silent fury
is
and
'
of the English character,

while in its most aggravated form it is wholly divorced
from any dislike to the individual or repulsion to the
aristocratic impassivity
though he used to say 'I hate

and
undeniably looked upon it as the
England/
race.
Skobeleff,
ambition of his
action
life
by the way
to fight us in Central Asia
in
which he had not the
an
slightest
was on friendly terms with many*

Englishmen, and had been heard to say that he never
met an Englishman who was not a gentleman. In
doubt of success
externals, indeed, there
is
much
in
common between
the Eussian and the Briton, exhibiting, as both do,

along with the temperament, the physique, the com-
plexion and colour of the north, a unity of qualities

that make for greatness, viz. self-reliance, pride, a
desperate resolve, adventurousness, and a genius for
Further than this I would not push the
discipline.
resemblance.
the two people
A
by
Eussian will
tell
you that
the same moral standard
to
is
judge
as un-
submit to the same physical test a child and

a grown man. Russia is understood to be working
out her own salvation. If she repudiates the accepted
fair as to
canons of regeneration, she
may
perhaps claim, in
self-defence, to civilise herself in her
The prevailing
friendliness
in
own way.
Russia
towards
26
unworthy of note in framing

the future the more so as the same
Russian
Englishmen is a factor
towards
Austria
any
J induction as
and France
cannot be said of her attitude towards other people

with whom she is supposed to be on more intimate
to
riot
;
'
Austria she regards with
terms than with ourselves.
undisguised hostility, not free from contempt.

political system so heterogeneous she credits with no
stability.
The military power of her southern
rival
she derides as a masquerade. To use a phrase I

heard employed by a Bussian, Austria stings like a
and ought, in the
gnat and bites like an adder
'
'
opinion of many ardent Muscovites, tobe crushed like

Her
the one, or stamped under heel like the other.
sympathy with France
alleged
is
tie
of a
more
often supposed, and is the

outcome not of national affinities, but of political
artificial
character than
is
the necessary corollary in fact to her

detestation of Germany. French politics are followed
needs.
It is
with absolute indifference in
St.
Petersburg, except in
so far as they relate to Berlin ; and there is probably

no country in Europe where there is a heartier pre-
judice against music-hall statesmanship and a see-saw

constitution, or a more masculine contempt for the
refinements of an epicene civilisation. It is noteworthy
that in the journalistic and literary amenities, which
writers of the two nationalities interchange, while
the Frenchman plunges at once into headlong adulation, a discreet flattery is the
utmost as a rule that
the Eussian will concede.
The doubts which had

of
my
journey were
still
arisen as to the prospects
unsolved when I
left
St.

Petersburg
while at
aggravated by
27
Moscow they were
yet further
the information which I received from
*
headquarters. I was advised on the highest authority

not to persevere in the attempt, and was warned that
in any case an answer could not be expected for a
Subsequently to this I even heard

our names had been submitted to the War
considerable time.
that
Minister,
refusal
who had
declined to sanction them, which
was further declared
to be irrevocable.
In
spite of this ominous dissuasion, which I had some

ground for believing to be due to a jealousy between
the departments of the Foreign Office and War Office

at St. Petersburg, I decided to start from Moscow,
and did so
not
till
after waiting there for six days.
I reached Vladikavkas,
It
was
on the Caucasus, three
later, that a telegraphic despatch conveyed to

the unexpected and welcome tidings that permission had after all been conceded, and that the entire
days
me
party, the rest of
whom
state of
at Tiflis,
All
is
in a
might proceed across the

well that ends well and I am not
expectancy
Caspian.
were now assembled
to explore the tortuous windof

ings
diplomatic policy or official intrigue at St.
General Annenkoff had assured us
Petersburg.
any longer concerned
we should be allowed to go, and leave having

been given, with him undoubtedly remained the
honours of war. Later on we heard that the Minister
that
War, upon seeing the permission of Generals

Eosenbach and Kbmaroff, had at once given his
for
consent without even informing the Foreign Office.

Conceive the feelings of the latter
!
journey
permission
granted
;
28
From
st.
Petersburg
to
Tims
Were
..
invite
I writing a narrative of travel, I

,
my
readers to halt with
me
for a
might
few moments
at Nijni-Novgorod, in
or
I stayed in each
at
Baku.
Tiflis,
of these places, exchanging the grandiose splendour
and civilised smartness of the capital with its archiat St. Petersburg, at
Moscow,
the Caucasus, at
tecture borrowed from Italy,

Paris,
and
its
amusements from
pretentiousness from Berlin
its
for the
Oriental irregularity and bizarre beauty of Moscow,

an Eastern exotic transplanted to the West, an inland
No more effective
Constantinople, a Christian Cairo.
illustration could be furnished of the Janus-like character of this
huge political
and corridors
unfilled courts
the Great phrased
it, its
structure, with
its
vast
in the east, and, as Peter
northern window looking
out upon Europe, than the outward appearance of its

two principal cities, the one a Western plagiarism, the
other an Asiatic original.
Through the Caucasus we
drove, four horses abreast attached to a kind of family
barouche, by the famous Dariel Eoad. Piercing one

of the finest gorges in Europe, it climbs a height of
8,000 ft., and skirts the base of a height of 16,000 ft.
This is the celebrated pass that drew a line to the
conquests alike of Alexander and Justinian, the
Caucasian Gates of the ancient world, which shut off
the East on this side from the West, and were never
owned
by the same Power till

they fell into Russia's hands. Above them tower the
mighty rocks of Kazbek on which the tortured Pro-*
metheus hung, and away to the right is Elbruz, the
at entrance
and
exit
doyen of European summits.
This road
is
for the
29
present at any rate, and will probably long remain, of

the highest military importance, as it is the first line
of communication both with Armenia and the Caspian

and its secure tenure dispenses with the delays of
;
transport and navigation
the Black Sea.
Though
skilfully engineered, substantially metalled,
and con-
by
stantly repaired (relays of soldiers being employed

in the winter to cut a passage through the snows), it
cannot be compared for evenness or solidity with the

roads which the British have made in similar surroundings in
many
It
debouches
Tiflis,
where the
parts of the world.
135 miles from Vladikavkas upon

traveller begins to realise that
same country he has changed
though
still
continents.
in the
There I
found the rest of the party assembled, consisting of

two Englishmen, three Frenchmen, an Italian, and
a Dutchman.
With an Englishman, a Pole, and a

whom was subsequently added a Tajik
Mingrelian, to
of Bokhara, as our guides and conductors, we constituted about as representative a body as General
Annenkoff in
his
most cosmopolitan of moments could
have desired.
At
Tiflis
we
received from General SherenuStieff,9
acting governor in the absence of Prince Dondoukoff

Korsakoff, who had gone to meet the Emperor, the
official
cross
document, or
the
oktriti
and
to
list,
authorising us to
in the Eussian
travel
Caspian
dominions in Central Asia.
The ordinary
limited sanctity, has been
turned back from the
passport,
is useless east of
and
counterviseed
viseed,
though
the Caspian, and many a traveller, straining its
rom
lis
to
Baku
**
gjj|
30
regions to which the oktriti list alone will procure

admission.
With this magical piece of paper in our
possession we started without any further delay by
the single daily train, that leaving Tiflis at ten in the
evening arrives at Baku betwe'en four and live on the
There we spent a day inspectfollowing afternoon.

of the place and visiting the
features
the
ing
peculiar
works of Balakhani, some eight miles from the town,

where a forest of tall wooden towers like chimneystacks marks the site of the deep wells from which
the crude naphtha either springs in spontaneous jets
from hidden subterranean sources, or is drawn up by
steam power in long cylindrical tubes, and despatched

to the distilleries in the
Of
town.
this
petroleum
industry, which has reached the most gigantic proportions, I will say nothing here
because I should
only be repeating secondhand M hat is already to be

found in works specially devoted 'to the subject. 1
I
have
the
further
previous visitors
incentive
of
described their journey

one has resisted the temp-
At 5.30
in the afternoon
from the wharf in the steamboat
off
that
silence
who have
to Transcaspia scarcely
tation to speech.
to
to
the
Caucasus
'
we put
Prince Baria-
and
Mercury
which
was
Company,
frequently impressed by Skobeleff and his troops in the Turkoman
campaigns of
tinski/
belonging
1879, 1880, and 1881.
As we steamed out on
the
placid waters of the Caspian, whose surface far out

to sea gleamed dully under the metallic lustre of the
1
Vide a new edition of The Region of Eternal Fire.

London, 1888.
Marvin.
By
Charles
WHARF AT BAKU
PERSIAN ARHA
PERSIAN WATER-CART -OIL WELLS
0;'
BALAKIIANI.
32
up an altar of fire
of the Apsheron peninsula,
floating oil, the setting
sun
behind the pink cliffs

which would have turned
lit
to
ridicule
the
most
prodigal devotion, even in their palmiest days, of the

defunct fire-worshippers of Baku. On the other side
a leaden canopy of smoke overhung the petroleum
works, and the dingy quarters of the manufacturing

town.
Approach
At
sunrise on the next
11
Ada
visible to .the north-east.
morning rocky land was
This was the mountainous
background to Krasnovodsk, the first Eussian settlement twenty years ago on the eastern shore of the
Caspian, and the original capital of the province of
Thither the terminus of the railway is
Transcaspia.
be transferred from Ilzun Ada, on account

of the shallow and shifting anchorage at the latter
likely to
Later on low sandhills, clean, yellow, and

ubiquitous, fringed the shore or were distributed in
place.
melancholy islets over the surface of the bay. The

whole appearance of the coast is strikingly reminiscent of a river delta, a theory which is in close
harmony with the admitted geological fact that the
Oxus once emptied
itself
by one
mouths
at least of its
or tributaries into the Balkan Bay. Soon we entered

a narrow channel, at the extremity of which the
masts of ships, the smoking funnels of steamers, and

several projecting
wooden piers and wharves
indicated
a position of considerable commercial activity and at

2.30 P.M. were moored to the landing stage of Uzun
;
Ada, on which appeared to be gathered the entire

population of the settlement, whose sole distraction
33
the arrival and departure of the steamer must be.

is the
present starting point of the Transcaspian
This
Bailway; and here accordingly I pause to give a

historical retrospect of the origin, raison d'etre, con-
struction and character of this important undertaking.

Let any reader who revolts against dull detail omit
the next chapter.
ItUSSIA
34
IN CENTRAL ASIA
CHAPTER
THE TRANSCASP1AIV RAILWAY
I'll put a girdle round about the earfch

In forty minutes.
SHAKSPBABE, Midsummer Night's Dream, Act
ii.
sc.
i.
Origin of the idea of a Central Asian railway Scheme of M. Ferdinand

de Lesseps Attitude of England Idea of a Transcaspian railway
Adoption of the plan by Skobeleff Completion to Kizil Arvat

December 1881 Ideas of further extension Opposition to tho
Transcaspian scheme Extension from Kizil Arvat to the Oxus
From the Oxus to Samarkand Technical information about
in
Exclusively military character Material of the line

Character and pay of the workmen Method of construction Cost
Difficulties of water
Facilities of construction
Difficulties of
sand Contrivances to resist the sands Difficulty of fuel and
Stations Duration and
lighting Kolling stock of the railway
the line
cost of journey.
Origin of
VERY
ofVcen-
in
1865
an
Raiiway
in
mind the
early after the Kussian occupation of Turkestan

I must ask my readers to bear very closely
distinction
between Turkestan, or Central
Asia proper, the capital of which is Tashkent, and

Turkomania, or the country of the Turkomans,
which extends from the Caspian
to
Merv
and
its
conversion into a Russian possession, administered

by a Governor-General, in 1867, the question of more
rapid communication with Europe was raised. For

a time the idea was entertained that the streams of
35
the Syr Daria or Jaxartes, and, after the conquest

of Khiva and practical absorption of Bokhara in
1873, of the Amu Daria or Oxus, would provide the

requisite channels of connection; and a great deal
was heard of the future Aral flotilla. But the difficulties arising from the river navigation, which
day been successfully surmounted,
speedily threw these schemes into the background,
and the plan of a Central Asian Railway began to
take definite shape. In 1873 a Russian official was
entrusted with the duty of preparing a report on the
have not to
this
of constructing a line from Orenburg to

Tashkent; and early in the same year, M. Cotard,
who had been one of the engineers employed upon
feasibility
the Suez Canal, meeting M. Ferdinand de Lesseps,

whose hands were for the moment empty, at Constantinople,
suggested
to
him
this
fresh
field
of
conquest.
M. de Lesseps
put
r was nothing
e loth. He at once r
in
to
a
letter
dated
and
May 1, 1873, to
pen
paper,
General Ignatieff, then Russian Ambassador at Constantinople (followed later on by one to the Emperor
Alexander II.), he unfolded the details of his scheme,
which was no less than the recommendation of a
through railway from Calais to Calcutta, a distance
of 7,500 miles the portion from Orenburg to
Samarkand to be laid by Russia, and from Samarkand
Peshawur by England. General Ignatieff replied

with ready enthusiasm, welcoming the idea because
of its commercial and political importance, and not
the
least because it would show to the world
to
D2
Scheme of
M. Ferdi-
36
essentially pacific
and
civilising character of
influence in those regions.'

*
He
Kussian
further declared his
intimate conviction that this grandiose enterprise,
might appear at first sight both risky and

chimerical, was yet destined to be realised in a future
though
it
more or less near/ The indefatigable M. de Lesseps

then went to Paris, where a small society was formed
to undertake the preliminary topographical surveys.
These were to be submitted to a committee of experts,
who were
the
enterprise,
fiscal
finally, the
Attitude of
Definite local surveys
advantages.
to be made,
and
upon the technical feasibility of

and on its future commercial and
to report
backed by a
work
were next
financial
of construction
company and,
was to commence,
;
to last for six years.
Meanwhile, however, the consent of another high

contracting party was required; and M. de Lesseps
had in the interim opened communications with

Lord Gran vi lie. In England the project was not
received with much alacrity; and when certain of
the
French engineers, who had been despatched to
India to reconnoitre the ground, arrived upon the

Afghan frontier, permission was refused to them to
advance beyond, on account of the difficulties in

which England might thereby be involved with those
turbulent regions.
project languished
After their return to Europe, the

and before long M. de Lesseps,
scenting a more favourable spoil in another hemisphere, withdrew his attention and his patronage to
Since then the idea, in its
the Panama Canal.
original shape, has not again
been heard
of.
37
For some time afterwards the design of a Central Mea of a

Transslumbered. But the commencement Caspian
Asian Railway
J
Railway
of the series of Russian campaigns against the Turkomans in 1877, and the gradual shifting of the centre
of political gravity in Central Asia from Turkestan

to Transcaspia brought about its revival in another
shape, and has since ended in its realisation, not,
however, by a line over the steppes from the North,
but by one from the Caspian and the West. It was

in 1879, while General Lomakin was prosecuting his
Akhal
series of ill-adventured expeditions against the
Tekkes that mention was
first
made
of a Trans-
caspian Railway (his successor, General Tergukasoflf

in a report upon the unlaying stress upon the idea
campaign of that year, and upon the proper

means by which to subjugate the Akhal Oasis) and
in 1880, after Skobeleff had been appointed Comsuccessful
in
mander-in-Chief,
the Russian
order to retrieve
laurels, that the work was actually taken in hand.

At that time it was supposed that the subjugation
of the
Turkoman
would entail a mucli

steppes
ri
more
fort
of Denghil Tepe,
Lomakin
Tekke
at the
more commonly known
Geok Tepe,
in
discouraged
the Russians.
as
September 1879, having profoundly

Skobeleff was
accord-
ingly given carte blanche in his selection both of the

manner and means of operation. He was commis-
sioned to conquer and to annex

to
do both
difficulty
in
after
the
his
own
fashion.
but was allowed
Now
preceding campaign
the
had
by
left
arduous task than subsequently proved to be the

case, the disastrous defeat of
Adoption
of the plan
main
arisen
skoW
KUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
38
from the scarcity and
loss
of
transport animals.
expedition of 1879, 8,377 camels had

out
of a total of 12,273 employed; and at
perished
the end of SkobelefTs own campaign, a year and a
the
During
half later, only 350 remained out of a total of
To meet
this initial
Skobeleff that he
While
his base
still
drawback,
it
l^GOG.
was suggested
to
should employ a light railroad.

remained at Tchikishliar, near the
mouth of
the Atrek Eiver, on the Caspian, a service

of traction engines was projected by General Petrusevitch,
Akhal
and subsequently a tramway to the edge of the

Oasis.
But Skobeleff having almost imme-
diately resolved to shift his
main base northwards
Krasnovodsk, opposite Baku, a new
to
set of proposals
A genuine
railroad was now spoken

made
proposal
by an American contractor
named Berry, who offered to construct a line from
saw the light.
of.
the Caspian to Kizil Arvat, a distance of 145 miles,

at his own expense, with material brought from some
disused railroad in the States, and upon completion,

either to hand it over to the Government, or to con-
working with an annual state guarantee of

arid General Annenkoff,
132,000/., was refused
tinue
its
formerly military attache at Paris, and at that time

Comptroller of the Transport Department of the
Eussian Army,
who had been
entrusted in 1877 with
the transport arrangements in the Turkish war, and

had had considerable experience of military railways
since, was invited by the Commander-in-Chief to his
1
Vide The
Chaps,
ii.
and
War
xi.
in Turltomania.
By
General N.
I.
Grodekoff.

aid.
He recommended
rails that
;J9
the use of 100 miles of steel
had been purchased
for use in the
Balkan
of the collapse of the

peninsula in 1878, in the event
Congress at Berlin, and had been lying idly stored

These were at once
ever since in European Kussia.
( J
KNK KAL A\N
X K O FF.
Michaelovsk, a point on the coast

considerably to the south of Krasnovodsk which was
transhipped to
selected
by Annenkoffas
the starting point of the line
so, no decision was yet arrived at as to a

permanent broad-gauge line, orders having been given
but even
40
to the Decauville and Maltseff firms for the supply, of
small locomotives and wagons, and of 66 miles of
movable narrow-gauge rails. 1 It was thought

that these might be used for the immediate convey-
light
ance of stores to the front, and that the success or

failure of the smaller experiment would then deter-
mine the policy of extending the broad-gauge line,

which from motives of economy it was decided to lay
at once
the
through the belt of sandhills contiguous to
shore.
For
the
purpose
of
the
campaign
Skobeleff from the beginning regarded the line as a

2
purely secondary and accessory means of transport,
though his eyes were speedily opened to its future

So confident, however,
possibilities and importance.
was he of
having completed his

he
announced
his intention of
own preparations,
finishing the campaign before the railway, which it
swift success, that,
was only intended to construct as far as Kizil Arvat,

145 miles from the Caspian, was ready to be placed
Fifty miles of light steel rails, to be laid upon a 20-inch gauge, and
100 trucks were ordered from the Kussian firm of Maltseff; 16 miles
of rails and 500 trucks from the Ddcauville works in France. Only
two locomotives were ordered (from the latter firm) as it was intended
to work the railroad by horses, 1,000 Kirghiz animals being bought for
1
the purpose in Tranecaspia.

a
At the first Military Council held at St. Petersburg, as early as
January 1880, to discusR the forthcoming campaign, Grodekoff relates
who had already been designated though not appointed

Conmiander-in -Chief, declared that a railway alone could not be trusted
to bring the expedition to a successful issue, and accordingly he proposed
to employ camels principally, treating the railroad as a secondary line
The War in Turkomania, chap. iii. Again, in
of communication.'
June 1880, he wrote : It is evident that the railway now being constructed can of itself be of no importance for the narrow aims of the
Akhal Tekke expedition (chap, v.) He continually repeated the same
that Skobeleff,
'
opinion.

at his disposal
41
a boast which, as a matter of fact,
he triumphantly carried out.

Meanwhile General Annenkoff, though beaten in
A railway
the race of time, had not been idle.
KiziiArvat
Dec. 1881
battalion of 1,500 men, with special aptitudes or of

special experience, was recruited in successive com-
panies as required from European Russia skilful

engineers were engaged a credit was opened by the
;
Eussian
Government
and
the
pick and
shovel
work upon the virgin sandhills of the

Caspian littoral. Geok Tepe was carried by storm in
were soon
at
January 1881, and General Annenkoff, having been

wounded in one of the earlier reconnaissances, was
compelled to return to St. Petersburg. But in his
absence the labour was not allowed to slacken the
;
Decauville line had already been abandoned as the

main system, and was used to assist in laying the
broader gauge.
In December 1881 the latter was
completed, and the first locomotive steamed into Kizil

Arvat. From these small and modest beginnings,
undertaken with a purely strategic object, and for the

attainment of a particular end, viz. the pacification
of the Akhal Oasis, have grown the 900 miles of steel
that
now
unite the Caspian with Samarkand.
The success of this preliminary experiment, and

the comparative facility and economy with which the
obstacles of drought and desert had been overcome,
encouraged General Annenkoff to meditate an expansion of his scheme.
With
this object in view, the
engineer Lessar, who subsequently became well knowi^

in this country
from his connection with the Afghan
ideas of
extension
42
Boundary Commission, and the Mussulman officer

AlikhanofT, were despatched in the years 1 8 8 1 1 8 8 2 and
1883 to conduct a series of explorations in the terra
,
incognita that lay towards

St.
Merv and Herat
while at
Petersburg Annenkoffhimself published a brochure
The Akhal Tekke Oasis and the lioads to

India/ in which he advocated, chiefly on commercial
grounds, an extension to Herat, and even a junction
entitled
'
with the Indian Eailway system at Quetta. Russian

officers and statesmen thought fit to pooh-pooh the suggestion in their public utterances, General Grodekoff,
in an interview with Mr. Marvin in February 1882,
ridiculing the idea of an extension of the line
and even Skobeleff declaring his

its continuance beyond Askabad.
Kizil Arvat,
belief in
beyond
total disIt is de-
monstrable that these protestations were merely a part

of that policy of glib assurance, that has so often been
employed by Russia
calm the awakened susceptiFor in Grodekoffs history of
to
of England.
SkobelefTs campaign we read that the latter took the
keenest interest in the development of the railway
bilities
that
from the
extension
earliest
and that
and a half before
date he
as far
recommended
its
back as June 1880, a year

advance to
his disavowal of further
Mr. Marvin, he had expressed himself in a letter as

follows
When
prolonged,
urgent, to
peace
is
restored in the Steppe, the line

Askabad, or, as seems to
either to
Kunia Urgenj
or to the
Amu
Daria.
must be
me more
We
shall
thus have steam communication between St. Petersburg and

Samarkand. I am certain that a cheaper or shorter way
43
cannot be found of uniting Turkestan with the rest of the

Empire, and of ensuring its safety and the development of
If we intend to get any return from our present
its trade.
enormous expenditure, we must popularise the Steppe route

between the Caspian and the basin of the Amu. Here, as
elsewhere, the initiative rests with the Government.
1
Though the Transcaspian Kailway was under Opposition

such distinguished patronage, it was not without Tnmt
ciiHpian
enemies, even in high military circles in Russia. Scheme
.
General Tchernaieff, the original conqueror of Turkestan, who was appointed Governor General of the
Central Asian Dominions in 1882,
foreseeing
the
supercession of Turkestan by Transcaspia which

Annenkoff's railway would entail, and having always
contended for a more northerly approach to his province, urged an extension from Kizil Arvat to Khiva,
which might in turn be connected with the Caspian,

and whence the waterway of the Oxus would provide
an approach to Bokhara. These projects met with
support except from the Turkestan partisans,
and were not rendered more palatable by the scarcity
little
of commercial inducements.
programme had
piqued at his
c
failure,
won
the Transcaspian
the day,
exploded
Tchernaieff,
his irritation in
Novoe Vremya' in the summer of 1886,

An Academic Kailway,' in which lie threw
letter to the
entitled
finally
When
'
a parting douche of very cold water upon General

Annenkoff's scheme, and declared his own preference
for a line
the
Amu
1
from Saratov on the Volga to Kungrad on

In
Daria, between Khiva and the Aral Sea.
Grodekoff *s
War
in Turkomania, chap.
v.
44
the meantime, however, he had himself ceased to be
a persona grata with the powers that be in Russia

his name was no longer one to conjure with in the
;
controversy and the star of Transcaspia continued

in the ascendant.
;
Extension
the Oxus
Thougli projects of advance had undoubtedly

been formulated as well as entertained, Kizil Arvat
-i
remained the terminus
till
the famous affray on the
Kushk between General KomarofFs troops and the

Afghans on March 80, 1885, that so deeply stirred
public opinion in this country, and all but embroiled
the two nations in war.
From that moment the
character and conception of the railway changed.
longer the prudent auxiliary to a single cam-
No
paign,
it
became
the
mark
of a
definite
policy,
Till then the

quality and dimensions.
Russians themselves had regarded the line as an iso-
imperial in
its
and limited undertaking, rather than as part of

a great design. It now emerged as a menace to
lated
England and a warning to Asia. On June 2, 1885,

within two months of the Penjdeh affair, appeared
the Czar's ukase entrusting AnnenkofT with the con-
tinuance of the line towards the Afghan frontier.

second railway battalion of picked men was enrolled
Reaching Kizil Arvat on July 3,

they began work on July 13 and while the British
forces were engaged night and day upon the analoat
Moscpw.
gous railways of Hurnai and the Bolan in Beluchistan,

the Russians were as steadily pushing forward their
hostile
from the opposite direction. On

11, 1885, the first train ran into Askabad
parallels
December
45
(136 miles from Kizil Arvat), which had in 1882 been
made
the capital of the newly constituted province

of Transcaspia, and the residence of a Governor-
Meanwhile, in February 1884, Merv had
General.
been quietly annexed, and the prolongation of the

line to that place was an inevitable corollary of what
On July 14, 1886, the

had already been done.
whilom Queen of the World was reached, 500
'
'
miles from the Caspian, the lines actually cutting the

walls of the great fortress of Koushid Khan Kala,
built with such sanguine anticipations only five years
before
as
advance.
an inexpugnable barrier to Muscovite

But Merv could no more be a halting-
place than Askabad and, after a pause of six weeks,

to recruit the energies of the railway battalion, the
same year witnessed the extension of the line to
;
Tcharjui and the Oxus, a further distance of 150

miles, General AnnenkofFs employes having now
reached such a pitch of mechanical proficiency in

their labours that the last 500 miles had been constructed in seventeen months, or at the rate of from
a mile to a mile and a half in a day.

There remained only the bridging of the
Amu
work of which more anon, and the coinpleThe imperial ukase

tion of the line to Samarkand.
authorising the latter was issued on February 7,
1887. This work was nominally completed in time
Daria, a
for the
ceremony of inauguration
in
May, 1888, and
on the 27th of that month a triumphal train, decked

with flags, and loaded with soldiers, steamed, amid
the roar of cannon and the music of bands, into the
46
ancient capital of the East.

Some time previously
the starting point of the railway had been shifted
from Michaelovsk to what was considered the supelanding-place of Uzun Ada, on an island 15
miles to the north-west, where it remains for the
rior
The through communication thus estaband perfected since, and a

page of the Russian Bradshaw testifies to the regupresent.
lished lias been continued
at present it does not say much for the

the
of
speed,
Transcaspian service. The entire distance is 1,342 versts, or not far short of 900 miles.
though
larity,
Such was the origin and such has been the history
up
present date of this remarkable under-
to the
taking.
Technical
Next
order I propose to give some details

about the construction, the material, the resources,
in
and the personnel of the Transcaspian Eailway More

minute information upon these points can be obtained
from either of two publications which have appeared
.
The
abroad.
entitled
first
is
a brochure of
160 pages,
Transkaspien und seine Eisenbalm,' pub-
Hanover in 1888, and written by Dr. 0.

Heyfelder, who was surgeon-in-chief to Skobeleff's
expedition in 1880, and has since been chief of the
lished
at
medical
staff
to
General
AnnenkofFs
battalions.
This book
is, as one might expect of the writer,

had the good fortune to meet in Transcaspia,
a capable and excellent production, distinguished by
scientific as well as local knowledge, and by broad
whom
sympathies. The second publication is in the shape

of two articles which were contributed by M. Edgar
47
Boulangier, a French engineer, to the 'Kevue du

Genie Militaire,' at Paris, in March-June 1887.
This gentleman visited the line while in course of

construction,
was treated with
characteristic friendli-
by the Eussian officials, and on his return wrote

the reports to which I allude, and which are marked
ness
It
technical accuracy arid diligent observation.
to be regretted that the temptations of authorship
by
is
subsequently persuaded him to dilute and reproduce

form of a discursive
his original compositions in the

'
volume, entitled Voyage h Merv,' published in 1888.

To both these writers I am indebted for many facts
and
figures, verified
sonal
investigation,
inquiries
on the
In the
first
and sometimes corrected by perand supplemented by private
spot.
place,
it
must be borne
in
mind
that E XCI U
the railway has been in its execution and is in

and that
immediate object a military railway
;
the labour which
we
associate
at
home with
its
all
co-
operative industry or private effort has here been

undertaken by an official department, under the con-
War
St. Petersburg.
To us
not
who in England
only unacquainted with
but
even
(except in such cases
military railways,
as India) with Government railways, the idea may
trol of the
Minister at
are
appear a strange one. But in a world where anybody who is not an official is a nobody, and where
military officials are at the head of the hierarchy of
powers, it is less surprising. ^Not only was the construction of the line entrusted to a lieutenant-general
(General Armenkoff having since been reappointed
mlfitLy
two years
for
director-in-chief of the railway), bul
a large extent, the manual

The same may be
labour was in military hands.
Civilians
said of the working staff at this moment.
the
technical
have
and, to
been and
architects,
still
are
and engineers
employed as surveyors,
but the bulk of the
staff
is
The engines are in

soldiers of the line.
driven
the
station-masters
by soldiers
many cases
are officers, or veterans who have been wounded in
composed of
battle
and the guards, conductors,
ticket-collectors,
and pointsmen,
office clerks
It
cannot be doubted that this peculiarity contributed
much
as
as well as the telegraph and postattached to the stations, are soldiers also.
it
to the
economy of
original construction, just
has since done to the efficiency of daily admin-
istration.
Material of
* e me
The line itself is on a five-foot gauge, which is

uniform with the railway system of European Eussia,
but not with that of British India. The rails, which
are
all
of steel, were made, partly in St. Petersburg,
partly in Southern Eussia, and were bought by the

Government at rather high prices in order to en-
courage native manufacture. They are from 19 to

22 feet long, and are laid upon wooden sleepers, at
the rate of 2,000 sleepers for every mile, being simply
spiked down, after the universal Eussian fashion,
without chairs or
Every single piece of timber,

iron, or steel employed was brought from the forests
or workshops of Eussia, for the most part down the
bolts.
Volga and across the Caspian.

apiece in Eussia,
3s.
The
upon delivery
sleepers cost 8d.

in Transcaspia.
THE TRASSCASPIAX KAILWAY
49
The
line is a single one from start to finish, except at

the stations, where there are invariably sidings, and
sometimes triangles, for an engine to reverse and is
;
upon a low earthwork or embankment thrown up

with the soil scooped out of a shallow trench on either
laid
The permanent way is not
side.
metalled.
Stone for
the railway buildings, particularly sandstone, was

found in great quantity in the quarries of the Persian
mountains.
Bricks were in some cases collected from
the ruined cities and villages that everywhere abound,

in others were sun-dried or baked in kilns.
Two railway battalions of from 1,000 to 1,500

men each were employed on the works. The first of
these,
which
laid the rails to Kizil
Arvat
in 1881,
and
whose headquarters are still at the latter place, has

since been engaged in the service of the entire line.
The second which was specially recruited in 1885
from many regiments, men being chosen with
indi-
vidual aptitudes for the work has laid the long

stretch of rails to Samarkand. The unskilled labour
was performed by natives, chiefly Turkomans, Persians, and Bokhariots, who used their own implements
and tools, and of whom at one time over 20,000
were employed. They made the earthworks, cuttings
and embankments, while the soldiers followed behind
them, placing and spiking down the rails. The com-
mon
pay was from 10$. to 11. a month the

from
4/. to 1 01.
The wages of the native
engineer's
soldier's
workmen
varied according to the demand for labour

(there never being any lack of supply), and rose graduOne of the
ally from 4d. a day to Id. and even 8d.
character
workmen
50
AV/XS7J
employe's told
labourers,
me
better
IN CKXTKAL ASIA
that the
Turkomans were the best
than the Bokhariots, and
much
The latter are as strong as

but
are
idle
and very cowardly. No
oxen,
incurably
doubt the employment of the natives in the construcbetter than the Persians.
and the security they thereby enand regular pay, has had a great deal to
tion of the line,
joyed of
do
fair
will) the
rapid pacification of the country; just as
SUCTION OF WOUKl.Mt-THAIN ON THE TBANSCASPIAN KAILWAY.
the
employment of the
Cdiil/ais
of the Reluchistan frontier,
upon
Mdh.nl
of
and native tribesmen
whom
saw engaged
the Quetta railway early in 1888, has produced
a most tranquillising effect in Pishin.

While the Russians were occupied in laying the
roust ruction
railway, their local habitation
which moved forward with the
was a working train,

line itself, and which
contained, besides larder, kitchen, dining, ambulance,
777 K
TliAXSVAXPIAX AM //JIM Y
51
smithy, and telegraph wagons, acconnnodal ion
who worked
two-
in
storied carriages for 1,500 officers and men.

latter were divided into two brigades of equal
The
num-
hours each out of the twentyfour, the one from 6 A.M. to noon, the other from noon
to 6 P.M.
Twice a day another train came up in the
ber,
for six
rear from the base, bringing food, water, material and

The latter was conducted to the front
rolling stock.
LAYING THK
If
AILS.
on a small movable narrow-gauge line three miles

long which \vas temporarily laid alongside of the main
rails,
told
and which advanced
by
that the
in their
company.
was
2nd Railway Battalion

advance was four miles in
the Colonel of the
maximum
rate of
the day, and the normal rate over two; though in wind
and rain it sometimes sank to half a mile, or less.
As regards
the cost of the entire line I
was pre-
Cost
RUSSIA nv CENTRAL ASIA
52
sented with slightly differing estimates; and there

is no doubt that the latter
part was executed more
cheaply than the first. Striking an average, howthe whole
over
ever,
line,
we may
accept
the
4,500.
following figures as approximately correct
a mile, all included though as the rails and rolling
:
which amounted
stock,
to
about two-fifths of the
were supplied to General Annenkoff by

Government order from Russian workshops, the
entire cost,
charge actually incurred upon the spot did not

amount to more than 2,70(M. a mile. Irregular grants
were however made from time to time

objects
and
if
for particular
these are included the total cost would
be quite 5,000/. a mile, upon the former basis of
cal-
considerable additional expenditure has

also been needed since for the repair or reconstruction
culation.
work and
the
unfinished platforms,
stations, sheds, and buildings generally along the line,
of faulty
for
a credit of 200,000. having been allowed to General

It is difficult to disfor those purposes.
Annenkoff
tinguish between the cost of the line per

Nevertheless
cost plus these accessories.
se,
and
it is
its
prob-
ably one of the cheapest railways that have ever been

constructed.
1
A
Facilities
few words as to the
facilities
which were encountered, and the
and
difficulties
relative strength of
which largely determined the cost of execution.
It
February 1888 estimated the annual cost

Transcaspian railway as at least 400,OOOJ. But*
General Annenkoff claims to have reduced this sum by more than one
The Council of the Empire has lately, however (July 1889), voted
half.
1
The Gazette
Ritsse for
to the nation of the
him a
further
sum
of 600,0()0/. for the completion of the undertaking.
THE TKANSCASPIAX RAILWAY
53
has frequently been claimed that this railway is an astonishing engineering phenomenon, almost a miracle,
inasmuch as it traverses a country previously believed to be inaccessible to such a
method of
loco-
In opposition to this view I am tempted to

affirm that except for the local dearth of material due
motion.
to the appalling desolation of the country,
is
it
the
and simplest railway that has ever been built.

The region which it penetrates is as flat as a billiard
easiest
table for almost the entire distance, the steepest gradient met with being only 1 in 150.
There was,
therefore, apart
from the greater
facility of construc-
heavy wagons and

bringing up long and loaded trains. There are no
tunnels, and only a few insignificant cuttings in the
tion,
no
difficulty in transporting
sandhills.
Sometimes the
rails
run
in a
bee
line for
20 or 25 miles without the slightest deviation to right

In a country for the most part destitute of
or left.
water, it is not surprising to find that over a distance
of 900 miles only three bridges were required, across
the Tejend, across the Murghab at Merv, and across
the
Amu
Daria
work
The speed which might be at-
the latter a very considerable

2
beyond Tcharjui.
tained on a line possessing such advantages ought to
be very great but the far from solid character of the
;
substructure has hitherto prevented anything beyond

a maximum of 30 miles an hour, while the average
1
The Russian
writer, I. Y. Vatslik,
enterprise in these words
*
:
Thus was
sums up
his account of the
this Titanic
work
gloriously
brought to an end by this indefatigable hero (i.e. Annenkoff.)

8
I speak of bridges of any size or importance. There are fifty-six
bridges in all, if we include those over ditches and dry water-courses.
'
54
from 10 to 20, according to the character of
is
speed
In time of war/ when heavily

charged trains would be following each other in swift
succession to the front, a higher average than 12 or
the region traversed.
15 miles could not reasonably be counted upon.

These in addition to the pacific attitude of the in-
who have been thoroughly cowed
habitants,
Geok Tepe,
since
the abundance and cheapness of labour,
the absence of contractors, and, lastly, what every

one admits to have been the indomitable energy and
excellent management of General Annenkoff have
Difficulties
of water
been the main advantages enjoyed by the Eussians.

On the other hand must be set the difficulties
of the route, arising in the mam from two causes
the scarcity of water and the plethora of sand.
If in many parts a slight exchange could have
effected of these two commodities, much
labour might have been spared, and many hearts
been
would
be
still
miles from
gladdened.
Uzun Ada
there
is
.For
the
first
no sweet water
at
110
1
all,
drinkable water being in the

tiny oasis of Kazanjik, whither it has been brought
in pipes from a reservoir filled by a mountain stream.
the
The
first
source of
a type of the main, though

for whilst
source
of supply
very precarious
during half the year the torrent-beds are empty,
from time to time there rushes down a cataract
latter
affords
that sweeps all before

1
little
it,
tearing
up the
rails,
and
At the stations of Holla Kari, Bala I shorn, and Aiclin there is a

water ; but it is precarious in quantity, brackish in taste, and
barely drinkable.
55
One such cataconverting the desert into a lagoon.

strophe occurred at the opening ceremony, and delayed General Annenkoffs guests many weary hours
near Kizil Arvat. But these incidents are fortunately
To meet
the scanty supplies, the distillation of

seawater was originally resorted to, and condensing
rare.
machines were established at Uzun

ovsk.
But
latterly the plan lias
Ada and
Michael-
been more favoured
of conveying the water from places where it exists to

those wr here it does not in great wooden vats, stand-
ing upon platform trucks and these too may often

be seen permanently planted at the various stations.
Artesian wells were bored at first, but have resulted
;
in
failure.
complete
more
scientific
use
is
now
being made of water brought in conduits or pipes
from the mountains, and

its
own
filling the stationary cisterns

of natural sources and springs,
by
pressure
and of canalisation. In the sand-dunes between Merv
and Tcharjui, the water is conducted to the line by
;
subterranean galleries, like the Afghan karczes, leadThe scarcity of water would,
ing from the wells.
however, be a serious consideration in the event of

the transport of large bodies of troops and baggage
animals in time of war, unless this occurred at a
season
when
the natural sources were
A greater
perhaps
ness
presented
almost say, in
difficulty
might
of the vast
and
shifting
the 650 miles, which are
between the
at
least
are
Caspian
full.
itself in
the shape
the shapelessOf
desert sands.
covered by the railway,

the Amu I)aria, 200
and
through a howling wilderness.
This
Difficulties
56
may be
divided into three main sections
(1) the
from the Caspian; (2) the stretch

between the Merv Oasis and the Oxus; and (3) a
narrow belt between the Oxus and Bokhara. Here
thirty miles
first
but
little
vegetation
is
exceptions, possible.
yellow
is
line,
dunes, and
winds.
It
is
piled
either visible, or, with certain
The sand, of the most brilliant

in loose hillocks and mobile
swept hither and thither by powerful
has
all
the appearance of a sea of troubled
waves, billow succeeding billow in melancholy succession, with the sand driving like spray from their
summits, and great smooth-swept troughs lying between, on which the winds leave the imprint of their
fingers in
wavy
These were the conditions that pre-
the sea-shore.
sented
the
indentations, just like an ebb-tide on
only really formidable obstacle to the
military engineer.
Several
contri-
methods
were
employed
of
resisting
and implacable enemy.

Near the
the
permanent way was soaked with seaCaspian
water to give it consistency, the rapid evapora-
this
insidious
tion
of the
face
climate
in other
parts
speedily
it
solidifying
the
sur-
was covered over with a
This prevented the

earthwork from being swept away, and the sleepers
laid bare.
Elsewhere, and in the more desolate
sort of armour-plating of clay.
other plans were adopted.

The sandhills
contiguous to the line were planted with tamarisk,
regions,
wild oats, and desert shrubs, nurseries for which

were started in the Persian mountains or with that
;
strange and interesting denizen of the wilderness, the
ifl^^Â^'jX
fc'
r
CLEARING AWAY THE SAND
THE TRANSCASP1AN RAILWAY
67
saxaoul* which, with a scanty and often shabby
uppergrowth, strikes
the sand, and
its
somehow
from that to which
sturdy roots deep down into

or other derives sustenance
gives stability and permanence.

Fascines of the branches of this plant were also cut,
it
laid at right angles to the rails, along the outer
edge
of the earthwork or embankment, and packed down

under a layer of sand. On the tops of the dunes may
wooden palisades, 3 ft. or 4 ft.

high, constructed of light laths, and planted perpendicularly to resist the prevailing winds, which by
often be seen half-buried
up the sand against them, arrest its further

These were copied from the fencing emprogress.
piling
ployed to resist the snowdrifts in the steppes of

Southern Eussia. In spite of all these precautions
the sand continues and must always continue to be
a serious peril to the line, and when the hurricanes
blow, which are common at certain seasons of the
year, the rails in the regions I have indicated will
always be liable to be blocked, and can only be kept

clear
by relief
deposit away as
parties
fast as it
third
difficulty,
-I/.TIthe
and
(with
of
workmen sweeping
the
accumulates.
in the total absence

n
exception of
the
of coal
7
saxaoul,
-i
The Saxaoul (haloxylon qmmodendrori), called zalc by the Mongols
further East, is the most widely distributed of the sand-flora of Central

Asia. It is met with on the shores of the sea, and at an elevation of
10,000 feet, and from the Caspian to China. Growing to a height

of sometimes twelve or fifteen feet, and with a thickness near the root
man for fuel, and by camels for

stumps and branches, which ignite like
and give a great heat, while the latter munch the stems and
of half a foot or more,
it is
food, the former burning the

coal,
twigs.
used by
Difficulty
*
-i
which
fuel
^d
lighting
58
was too
valuable
to
be permanently
sacrificed)
of firewood, was the heating of the engines, and

in a less degree the lighting and warming of
the
stations,
was
telegraph
and
offices,
trains.
Here
thought that other local resources

might prove sufficient. Naphtha was found in the
hills of Naphtha Dagh and Buja
Dagli near the
it
at first
Caspian, and the narrow-gauge Decauville railway,

which has been spoken of, was opportunely utilised
to
run from the station of Bala Ishem to these
Their produce has since turned out to be

either unremunerative or inadequate and the residual
naphtha, or astakti, being the refuse left over from
springs.
petroleum after
distillation,
by which the locomotives
now purchased from
the prolific oil-fields
are driven,
is
of Baku.
The tenders for the year 1889

amount required as 6,000,000
the
total
specified
gallons.
of
this
reservoirs
are.
naphtha
kept at the
Large
superior stations, the tank at Askabad containing
and
transported along the line

in cistern-cars, holding 2,400 gallons each. In dwelling-houses the nuisance arising from the smoke of
80,000 gallons
it
is
been corrected by the use of the Nikitkin

When I add that the economy of petroapparatus.
leum is six times that of coal, as burned upon
astakti has
European railways, and that
it
efficiency in generating steam,
Nature,
if
possesses twofold the

it will be seen that
she has stinted her assistance to the Rus-
sians in other respects, has here
ungenerous hand.
Petroleum
large quantities in lamps, in the
bestowed
is
also
it
with no
consumed
form of kerosene
in
oil.

About the
.
found
It
it
very
rolling-stock
T/T
difficult to
of the
59
new railway
gain precise information,
indeed, as hard to extract accurate statistics
is,
or calculations from a Eussian as to squeeze juice

from a peachstone. In this respect he is at the oppopole of character from the American, who inundates you in the railway carriage with a torrent of
figures demonstrating to a nicety the latest transacsite
tions of the business
number
market of
his native town, the
of trains that run per diem through
its
rail-
he prefers to call it, depot, or the

income in dollars and cents of its most reputable
station, or, as
way
Dr. Heyfelder in his work gives the number

of locomotives on the first section of the line to Amu
citizens.
Daria as 84, on the second to Samarkand as 26, total
110
the total
number
of freight cars as 1,240, and

M. Mestchcrin's figures
of platform cars as 570.
were respectively 90, 1,200, and 600, no great disBut on the line itself, whereas I was told by
parity.
one of the employes that there were only 66 engines
in all, 48 on the first section and 18 on the second
(though 20 more had been ordered), and 600 wagons,
300 of each sort, elsewhere I heard from another
official
that there were 150 locomotives on the
section of the line
first
and 28 on the second, and over
I fancy that all these calculations

1,000 wagons.
omit the passenger wagons proper, which are at
present rather a secondary consideration, many of
them being only baggage wagons with windows cut

and seats introduced down the middle.
Of first-class carriages there is only one, which is
in the side,
Roilingstock of
the railway
60
reserved for the use of the inspector of the
line,
but which was courteously placed at the disposal of

our party upon landing at Uzun Ada. We were
also
class
accommodated with one of the best secondcarriages, which was brand new, and six of
which have recently been ordered

cost of 0,000 roubles, or GOO/., each.
of a large
two
wagon
separate
in Russia at
They
consist
built in the foreign fashion, with
compartments containing two long

and with four similar com-
seats or couches each,
partments opening on to a gangway which runs

down the side throughout and conducts to a lavatory
and cabinet
ages I never travelled
which arc
More comfortable carriThe old two- storied wagons,
at either end.
in.
running, will shortly be discontinued,

because of the heavy strain they impose on the line.
still
120 wooden tank cars conveying water or naphtha, and occasionally attached to
There
are, further,
make them independent of the

General Aimenkoff's calculation was that
the trains, so as to
stations.
he ought to have 12 pairs of trains running on each

As the line becomes
section with 45 wagons each.
developed there will doubtless be a considerable
increase in the rolling-stock, which from my own
observation I should say approached to the lower
rather than to the higher figure.
Of engine sheds I
saw but few on the more recent part of the line,

though it is part of the scheme to provide them at
most of the stations.
stations
Tliese are of a widely different character, graduat-
ing from substantial structures in brick and stone to
61
dingy wooden shanties, half buried in the sand.

There are 61 in all, 45 between Uzun Ada and Ainu
Daria, and 16 between Ainu Daria and
and
their average distance apart
is
Samarkand;
therefore 15 miles. 1
Five of them, Askabad, Merv, Amu Daria, Bokhara,

and Samarkand, are ranked as first-class stations
;
only
complete, but imposing
fabrics of brick and stone are rising from the ground
the
first
on the other
far
Of the second-class
sites.
stations there
Uzun Ada, Michaelovsk, and
are three
Of the
so
is
third-class
fourth.
fully
the station and
four,
and
Kizil Arvat.
the
all
equipped station
is
to
rest of
consist
the
of
a guest house (analogous

to the Indian Dak Bungalow), a telegraph office,
a station-master's house, and the quarters for the
its offices
Those that have already been raised

employes.
consist of single-storied buildings made either of stone
or of sun-baked bricks plastered over with lime, with
stone copings and mouldings and all have flat roofs
;
smeared with asphalt from the petroleum wells. The

pattern is a very neat and practical one, and was
furnished by a young German engineer named Urlaub.
It is perhaps worth while mentioning that the commissariat arrangements are
on the whole decidedly
The train stops at least half or three-quarters

good.
of an hour for a mid-day and an evening meal, which
are excellently provided in the railway stations, while
there are constant and almost irritating pauses of
from five to twenty minutes, which can be sustained
by the consumption of
1
first-rate
tea at Id. a glass,
Vide the List of Stations in the
Appendix.'
62
of superb melons at less than Id. each, and of grapes

at a fraction of a farthing a bunch. Some of the trains
are furnished with refreshment cars, but I did not
happen
Finally I
Duration
journey
by one of these.
may add that regular
to travel
trains
run daily
from the Caspian to the Oxus, though the steamboat

and
service with Baku is only bi-weekly either way
;
twice a week, at present, from the
Oxus to Samarkand.
entire journey from Uzun Ada to Samarkand

without a break occupies 72 hours, or three days and
nights, for 900 miles, i.e. an average of about 12
The
miles an hour including halts.

class
thrpugh
ticket
is
The
38 roubles, or
rate of only Id. per mile.
cost of a second3/. 16s., i.e.
at
the
Travelling, therefore,
cheap, though hardly expeditious.
is
Q
K
*
!
&
CHAPTER IV
FKOAI TIIK CASPIAN TO AIKKV
To Margiana from
the Hyrcanian cliffs

Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales.
MILTON, l*aradise Regained, 317.
present and future Start from Uzun Ada Character of

the scenery The Persian mountains The desert of Kara
The four oases Vegetation of the oases The Akhal-Tekke
Uzun Ada,
Kum
oasis
The desert landscape VariaQeok Tepe, the old Turkoman fortress Story
Geok Tepe Preparations for assault Assault
Statistics of its resources
tions of climate
of the siege of
and capture, January
24,
Pursuit and massacre of the
1881
Turkomans
Impression left upon the conquered- -Skobeleff and

the massacre His principle of warfare Character of Skobeleff His marvellous courage His caprice Idiosyncrasies Anecdotes
of his whims Story of the Persian Khan

Turkoman peasants Askabad Government
Final criticism-
of Transcaspia
Resources and taxation Buildings of the town Strategical importance of Askabad and roads into Persia Use of the railway by
pilgrims to Meshed and Mecca- -The Atek oasis and Dushak
Refusal of permission to visit Kelat and Meshed Kelat-i-Nadiri
The Tejend
oasis.
FROM
the technical details dealt with in the preceding

chapter, I now pass to a record of my journey and the
At the point where my

experiences that it involved.
it
was
had
narrative
interrupted,
brought my fellowtravellers and myself to the eastern shore of the Cas*
pian.
Uzun Ada, where we
landed, and which was
jnade the western terminus of the railway in August

1886, is certainly not an attractive or inspiring
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL
64
AMA
though it perhaps hardly deserves the savage

abuse with which it has been assailed, any more than
spot,
does the laudatory exaggeration of French and

Russian scribes. The word means Long Island, and
it
accordingly built on a low and straggling

of sand, the yellow of which glitters fiercely
the town
islet
is
between the opposite blues of sky and sea. There is

not a blade of grass or a drop of water to be seen,
summer months must be appalling.

number of small wooden houses
and shops (children must be born and exist at Uzun
and the heat
in the
The town consists

Ada, because
of a
I actually
saw a toy shop) reared in a

which is elsewhere
promiscuous fashion on the sand,
covered with sheds, warehouses, and other large
wooden
buildings.
Most of the houses arrived, ready made, in numbered blocks, from Astrakhan, where they had cost
G0. apiece,
3/.
for
freight charge of 12/.,
and a further
the expenses of erection, raised
figure to 75/. each.
tfre
actual
The more important buildings
were constructed upon the spot with material brought

from Russia. I could see the reservoir aftfi enginehouse where the condensation of seawater êffected
and though the bulk of the water supply arrives by
train every
day from the
interior, I
that these artificial agencies were
observed signs
still
inrase.
The
piers were loaded with bales of cotton -knd other

merchandise, and a good deal of business ajpqpeaijed
be going on. Uzun Ada is, however, thoi|g]
able to Michaelovsk, a very unsatisfactory anchc

for it contains only from 10 to 12 feet of wjuerj
>s\
H>
W
w
H
66
constantly silting up, the channel requiring to be kept

open by dredges ; whilst in winter the bay is some-
times thickly frozen over and quite inaccessible to

It is not surprising therefore to hear
navigation.
that a commission has sat and reported in favour of
moving the landing-place to the old harbour of Krasriovodsk, 80 miles to the north,
distance
is
where the greater
compensated by an ample depth of water
and by excellent
facilities for
disembarkation.
As
soon as the line begins to pay its way, we may expect

to see the removal effected. The flimsy and ephemeral
character of the present town, which only numbers about
800 inhabitants, will then be seen to have harmonised

both with its sudden and mechanical origin and with
abrupt demise
its
existence,
and Uznn Ada
unwept and unhonoured,
will vanish
if
from
not altogether
unsung.
start
from
U/UIl
Ada
The railway station is at the distance of a few

n
ir
i
hundred yards from the landing-stage and the tra,
-i
veller ploughs his
way
to the platform (which does
not exist) through an ankle-depth of sand. Four

hours are allowed for an exhaustive inspection of the
1
The
relative merits of the
two termini, and the question of
re-
moval, were ably discussed by M. Seme'noff, vice-president of the

Russian Imperial Geographical Society, in the Proceedings of that
Society for 1888 (vol. xxiv.). He described Krasnovodsk as providing
a better, more convenient, safer, and deeper anchorage. Neither of
the two places contain supplies of fresh water sufficient to feed the
engines though near Krasnovodsk is a source that meets the drinking
requirements of the small total of inhabitants (700). On the other
hand, Uzun Ada is recommended by the money that has already been
sunk there, by its greater nearness to Askabad, and, as a consequence,
;
by the greater cheapness of transport. The question, in M. Sdm&aoffs

opinion, will be mainly determined by the relative cost of debarkation
at the two places.
FJIOM
Till':
rASPIAX TO
67
'
'-'V-i, :
?'''"'
!
;
UZUN ADA, THE SAND-DUNES, THE KOPET DAGH, \M> THE KARA KUM.
F
L>
'
68
local features, or are
more probably intended

,
as a
tribute to the possible delays of the Caspian.

Finally
the train starts, crosses a long embankment of 1,300
yards, by which the islet is united to the mainland,
character
Boenery.
Tlio
piTHian
luountttins
and plunges into the sullen dunes of the desert.

I have in the preceding chapter described the
main features of the first 30 miles from the Gas-
A funereal
pian.
and
tale of destruction,
both to
man
beast, engulfed in their whirling crests,
might
and the bones of many
a victim lie trampled fathoms deep under the pitiless
The peaks of the great Balkan range on the
tide.
these cruel sand-waves
tell
north, rising in points to a height of 5,000 ft., afford

a welcome relief to the eye, and, after a wide de-
pression in the surface level, through which the Oxus

or one of its confluents once disembogued into the
Caspian, are succeeded by the inferior elevation of

These are presently
the Little Balkans on the south.
merged in the splendid barrier of the Persian moun-
under the name of the Kuren Dagh,

with an average height of 1,500 to 2,000ft., and later
tains,
which,
first
on, while the elevation increases, as the
Kopet Dagh,
ft.
and
even
and
6,000
higher, overrising to 5,000
hang the railway, with an axis inclined from northwest to south-east, for nearly 300 miles, till their
southern spurs are confounded in the mountains of
Gulistan.
On
their far side, just over the
summit,
runs the Persian frontier, which was fixed by the
treaty with Bussia in December 1881, arid has been
demarcated by commissioners since. Very grand and

impressive these mountains are, with an outline ever
FROM THE CASPIAN TO MERV
69
and new, and with grey flanks scoured by
original
deep oval
gullies, either torn
by the
irresistible action
of water or representing the depressions between the

immemorial geological folds of the mountains as they
emerged from the superincumbent sea. One is the

more inclined to the former view from the recent
experience of the railway itself, which has twice
during the last three months been bodily swept away
some distance by one of these terrific rushes,

descending from the hills after a sudden storm.
for
mountains on the south supply a perpetual The Desert

of Kara
Kum
variety of shape and summit, there is a more than
If the
equivalent monotony in the spectacle that extends as

far as the eye can reach to the north.
Here nothing
is
but a wide and doleful plain, wholly destior all but destitute, of vegetation, and sweeping
visible
tute,
with unbroken uniformity to

This desert is the famous Kara
blurred horizon.
Kum
or Black Sand,
which, with intervals of dunes and interruptions of
from the Caspian to the

Oxus, and from Khorasan to Khiva and the Aral Sea.
so-called oases, stretches
Originally part of the old Aralo-Caspian basin, it has,

partly by an upheaval of surface, partly by the action
of air-currents, been converted into an utter wilderness.
worst parts, and they are at first the more

frequent, it consists of a perfectly level expanse,
plastered over with marl, which is cracked and
In
its
and
covered with a thin topSo hard is the

dressing of saline crystallisation.
surface in dry weather that a camel will barely leave
blistered
by
the sun,
the impression of
its
is
footmark, and that the torrents
AM A
IN CKNTHAL
70
from the mountains,

unable to penetrate
the crust, lie outspread
in
and
lakes
That
pools.
sorrowful
this
wasle was once at the
bottom of the sea
is
nume-
proved by the
rous
of
specimens
Aralo-Caspian Mollusc
fauna that have been

g
found
imbedded
in
PH
the sand
but I do
en
not suppose that their
value
would induce
even the most austere

o
pupil
g
of
science
to
veto a proposal, were

such within the bounds
of possibility, for the
resumption of the
tus
sta-
quo ante on its part.
The desiccated
gulfs
and channels which
in
some portions furrow

its
surface, after sup-
plying
an
pastime to a
innocent
genera-
tion of theorists, are
now
stood to
mark, no!
generally underformer beds of the Oxus, but

the ancient shore-
much
of
line
larger Caspian.
At intervals The
i
rp^'fw'l
.tins
t*4i
four
ouses
-,
desert
is
bro-
ken by belts of
more or less culti-
$%;;vi
:
vable
Bt=
Jjfh'lV
ii
soil,
which,
,,'
.N,
rt
'
under the modest
y:"ia* *,s v
'V^s'iW'W
W5</
''
'il/jll''!
standards
rl
<''-
'
1
of
so
^"
CSf'Y.'.'i
"^
"f'T "n'K!
1>
!
barren, a country,
Jl
fa
T-,
are
dignified by
the nanicof oases.
"1
"','
'^'''"
'
^'^MV^
There
four
are
such
oases
tween llzun
and
:^.Si-^^
.?-'
the
be-
Ada
Oxus,
Ak-
viz.
those of
hal,
Atek
(or the
mountain
base),
*&^;;^f
/,,','
',',^
jj^
Tejend,andMerv.
An
oasis in these
parts has no relation to the a
?%/^t
4:'%'^,^^
*^
"";*S
priori
picture,
painted
by our
Jl
*fi?
imagination,
which
in
rivulets of
water course
throuh a wealth
of verdure beneath
umbrageous
lives..
It
is
simply
72
a designation for such portions of the desert as have

been reclaimed, by moisture naturally or artificially
supplied, for the service of
fertility
man
the extent of their
depending entirely upon the poverty or abund-
ance of the streams.
Geologically their surface conof a layer of alluvial soil, which has been washed
down by rain and snow from the easily disintegrated
sists
and has formed a deposit along

In places the fertility has been increased
by the natural action of the later geological periods.
face of the mountains,
the base.
There
a G
ijood deal of variety in the vegetation
f
T
of these oases. In the more sterile parts they seem
is
but a stunted growth of tamarisk,

absinthe, camelthorii, and light desert shrubs though
even here in the spring-time there is a sudden and
to support
little
magical efflorescence of bright prairie ilowers.

the torrid
summer
With
heats these swiftly fade and die,
and the abomination of desolation then
sets
in.
Elsewhere, under the influence of a richer water

supply, barley, rice, maize, millet, sorghum, and
lucerne are succeeded in the most
fertile
districts
by orchards and gardens, which produce an amazing

crop of melons, apricots, peaches, and grapes.
Kizil Arvat, the original terminus of the railway,
oasis
which is the first important place we reach, and

which has 2,000 inhabitants, and, what is even more
remarkable, a fountain playing at the station, is com-
monly described
Akhal oasis, the
as
marking the beginning of the
belt of country inhabited
by
that
tough race of brigands, whose long career of raid

and pillage was summarily extinguished at Geok

in 1881.
Tepe by Skobeleff
Of
73
this oasis,
which
extends for a length of between 150 and 200 miles

with varying fertility, the Turkomans have a proAdam when driven forth from Eden
verb that says
fc
'
never found a finer place for settlement than Akhal ;

a boast, the vanity of which is not untempered with
discretion, seeing that
it
stops short of the assertion
that he ever did settle there.
For
this
unexpected
traveller in a strange cduiitry
modesty the
may
well
feel grateful.
The latest figures

~
relating
o to the Akhal Tekke
Oasis, which I derive from a report by M. Baieff, who
was sent by the Russian Minister of Finance in 1887
to
enquire into the boundary districts of Persia,
Turkomania, and Afghanistan, are as
follows,
lie
reported the oasis to contain 7,904 kibitkas, with a

population of 32,990 natives, as well as 1,700 others,
The animal wealth of the oasis
differently housed.
was returned thus
11,760 camels,
2,500 horses,
150,900 sheep, and 1,600 other cattle. In the light

of what I shall have to say later about the Turkoman
note that he reported the
breed
of
Turkoman horses to have become
superior
almost extinct since the war.
militia, it is interesting to
Through an entire day we traversed this plain,

the features of which become positively fatiguing in
their shameless uniformity. Clustered here and there
are to be seen the kibitkas or circular tents of the
Turkomans, who have been tempted back to their

But these, which represent
old hunting-grounds.
the peaceful
life
of the present, cannot be compared
statistics
of its re-
BOUrceB
74
in
number with
the small clay watch-towers, dotted
about like pepper-pots
over the expanse, and the

rectangular walled forts and enclosures with towers
at
the
corners,
all
which
existence, the dreaded
recall
the
alamans or
fierce
raids,
unsettled
and the
tur-
bulent manners of the past.

Occasionally are to be
seen great circular tumuli here called Kurgans,
*
I
'
1.
'*
,
L,
.1.
IF
*L wili, .nitJ**ifcljyiilkfafjf^^
TURKOMAN
K1IJ1TKAS.
which are supposed either to be the milestones of

forgotten nomad advance or the cemeteries of the
still
more forgotten dead.
Some
are circular and
others oval in shape they are sometimes 40 or 50

feet high, with stoop sides, and a circumference at the
;
base of 200 or oOO yards.
sand-column, raised
Ever and anon a
solitary
a passing puff of air, starts
by
and
up,
giddily revolving on
its
fragile
axis whirls
FROM THE CASPIAN TO -MERV

away over
This spectacle extends to the
the plain.
northern horizon, where
which
is
it
is
these
in
prevalent
75
lost
parts,
in the mirage
and the liquid
tremulous medium of which transforms the featuredismal plain into luscious lakes of water with
Often were the soldiers of
floating islets of trees.
less
SkobelefFs brigades deceived and disappointed by

this never-stale conjuring trick of the desert
and
;
the oldest traveller would probably confess to having
succumbed
Among
to its ever-green illusion.
the remarkable features of this tract of
country, none is more extraordinary than the variations of climate, which in their violent extremes are
proportion to the latitude in which it lies,

the same as that of Smyrna, of Lisbon, and of San
out of
all
Francisco.
summer
In
the heat
is
that of a seven
times heated furnace, and the scanty water-sources

The winter cold is
are insufficient to sustain life.
sometimes Arctic
entire herds of cattle are frozen
a deep snow covers the

ground to the depth of two or three feet and many
human lives are lost in the storms. The past winter
to death in the steppes
(1888-9), for instance, has been one of
uncommon
thermometer registered 20 degrees

severity
(Eeaumur) of frost water was sold along the railway
and the needs of fuel have wrought
at 2s. a pailful
:
the
havoc
among
the
supplies of the Saxaoul.
rapidly dwindling
These climatic vicissitudes
render campaigning
any but the
shocking
in
spring and
autumn months of the year a very precarious venture,
Variations
.of climate
and might abruptly suspend the most successful
76
The campaign of Geok Tepe

could not have reached so speedy and favourable an
military operations.
issue but for the
1880--],
when
abnormal mildness of the winter of
the stars in their courses fought for
Skobeleff.
We
Turkoman
fortress
passed Bahmi, a place once of some little

and at 2.30 on the afternoon of the day
importance,
A
J
after leaving the Caspian stopped at the station of
Geok Tope, about
sixty yards from the mouldering
Tekke fortress. Looking out of

window beforehand, we had already caught sight
ruins of the famous

the
of the western face of the great rampart, and of a

small fort outside where were trees and some mills
worked by the Tekkes during the

of the stream that entered the
quarter.
siege with the aid
encampment from
this
Towering above the outer wall we could
also see in the north-western corner a

lofty
mound,
which was used as a post of observation and as a
battery by the besieged. The entire enclosure, which
is still
fairly perfect, measured 2 miles 1,275 yards
and the walls of rammed clay though
crumbling to ruin and though stripped of their upper
in
circuit,
half immediately after the capture in order to cover

the bodies of the thousands of slain
are still on the
average about twelve feet high. In their face are to

be seen the holes scooped out by the shells which
imbedded themselves uselessly in the earthy mass
;
0-nd
on the
side running parallel with the line are
the two breaches on either side of the S.E.

angle
which were created by the Kussian mines. In the
centre is the main exit, masked by an outer fortificastill

tion,
from which the impetuous
that four times swept
Eussian camp.
site
The
now occupied by
the mountains, from
January 24, 1881,
down
latter
sallies
77
were made
like a tornado
was
upon the
to the south of the
the station, and between
it
and
the top of one of which, on
Edmund O'Donovan,
striving to
and reaching the

crest at the critical moment, looked down as from
a balloon upon the distant assault, and watched
through his field-glass the crowd of fugitives as they
push
his
way
to SkobelefFs army,
streamed in the agony of flight across the plain. I

have always thought this one of the most dramatic
incidents of
modern
history.
Clambering up the
consisted of a double
ruined bank, I found that it

wall the whole way round, or rather of a single
wall of enormous breadth, between the lofty battle-
ments of which on the top was a place where men

were placed to fire at the besiegers, and where, when
the fortress was stormed,
many
of
them were found
had been shot perhaps days before,

with their bodies pierced by bullets, and their heads
1
fallen forward between their knees.
The bones of
sitting as they
General Grodekoff in his work (chaps, xiv., xv.), supplies the

following details of the Turkoman fortress. It was a quadrilateral
enclosure, its north and south sides measuring respectively 980 and
660 yards, its eastern and western faces 1,680 and 1,575 yards. The
wall consisted of an earthen rampart, 35 feet thick at the base, and
1
to 28 feet thick at the top, and 15 feet high, thrown up and

trodden hard by men and horses, and then covered with a 5 -feet coating of mud. On the top of the wall were an inner and an outer parapet
4 feet high, and respectively 2 j and 3 feet thick, with a large number
of traverses, designed to prolong the defence, even against an enemy
from 21
who had
penetrated to the interior. In the outer parapet loopholes

were cut 9 inches wide, at a distance of 3| feet apart. All round the
outside was a ditch, with varying depth of from 6 to 9 feet, and breadth
78
camels, and sometimes of men,
within the desolate enclosure

assault
the
and capture,
plain
human
brought
seen lying
and for long after the
was impossible
to ride over
crushing into
Visiting this interesting spot in the
without
skulls.
company
it
may still be
the
horse-hoofs
of an eye-witness of the siege,
who was
into frequent personal contact with the
maiider-in-Chief, I
was made acquainted with
about the storming of the
fortress, as well as
Com-
details
about
the personality of the extraordinary man who conducted it, that have not found their way into the
storjr of
e
of
Geok
Tepe
works dealing with either subject.

The main incidents of the siege and capture of
Geok Tepe are well known, and may be read in the
official report of General Skobeleff, which was transand published in this country in
In March, 1880, Skobeleff was appointed
lated into English,
1881.
command. Having made a preliminary

reconnaissance of the Turkoman position in July of
to the chief
the same year, he retired to the Caspian, completed

his preparations there, and in December returned
with about 7,000
men and over 60 guns
to invest the
the scarp and coanterscarp being almost perpenand steps being dug in places out of the latter.
In the inside, at the foot of the wall, was also a trench, 42 feet broad,
but only from 1 foot to 2} feet in depth. There were 21 gates or open-
of from 12 to 17 feet
dicular,
and
rifle-pits
ings in the walls, masked by large semicircular traverses outside, the

ditch being crossed by dykes. A branch from the Sakiz-Yeb stream
was conducted into the fort through one of these openings, and having
been separated into two channels, passed out again. A broad open
space ran down the centre of the enclosure, but in the remaining area
it was calculated that there were pitched 13,000 kibitkas.
J
Siege and Assault of Denghil Tepe,
By General Skobeleff
(translated).
London, 1881.
79
name
of which was Denghil

Tepe, Geok Tepe being the title of a small settlement
a little further in the desert. Having first cleared
fortress, the
the
correct
Turkomans out of the
redoubt of Ycnglii
he pitched his own

a distance of a mile from the main
Kala at the foot of the

there at
camp
fortified
cliffs,
position at Denghil Tepe, within which

under the command of Makdum Kuli
general,
Tekme
Sirdar, since dead,
were gathered,
Khan and his
the
flower
of
Akhal Tekkes, with their wives and families

some 35,000 persons, assisted by 10,000 horsemen.
Between the 1st and the 24th of January, a first, a
second, and finally a third parallel of siege works
the
were
laid
enfilading batteries
the interior of the fort

besieged,
made
were erected
to rake
four desperate sallies of the

under cover of darkness, were suc-
cessfully repelled
and the Eussian lines were
steadily
pushed forward till at last they were so close that

the Eussian officers walking to and from the council
tent
were
fired at, that lights
were forbidden
at night
because they attracted a hail of bullets, and that
wounded men
in
the
ambulance
tents
were shot
Some of the troops were in the

trenches, where also SkobelefTs tent was pitched he
courted every risk himself, and was never so gratiagain as they lay.
fied as
when he heard
serious danger
that his officers
and under
fire.
When
had been
in
the Eussians
began to dig their mines for the final assault, their

advanced redoubt was only 70 yards from the Tekke
ramparts, and the troops in the foremost trenches
could actually hear the Turkomans talking together
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA.
80
on the
walls,
and wondering what
were doing, poking
their opponents
their snouts like pigs into the
Russian sentinels on the watch-towers
ground.
fre-
quently overheard the discussions and ejaculations of

the besieged, and reported to the general the wanNevertheless the Tekkes
ing spirit of the defence.
fought with amazing desperation and courage. They

would creep out from the fort at night, crawl over
the sand, lying motionless perhaps for hours in the
same position, and finally steal the Russian rifles,
piled right under the noses of the sentinels,
stealthily
On
Prepara-
and glide
away.
20th of January, breaching operations
the
commenced, and part of the wall was knocked down

by artillery, but was as quickly repaired by the besieged. Finally the two mines, easterly and westerly,
were ready the former was charged with over a ton
;
of gunpowder; and at 1 A.M. on the morning of the

l
24th, Lieutenant Ostolopoff and Naval Cadet Meyer
volunteered to carry a charge of gun-cotton to the
walls and explode it in the western breach which had

already been battered open by the cannon fire. This
was successfully performed. Meyer was shot by

a bullet through the face, but ultimately recovered,
and with the aid of an artificial palate can still speak.
feat
On
tee, jan.
04 1HS1
the morning of the 24th the troops were in

The attacking force was divided
position at 6 A.M.
into
1
three
Upon
columns,
under Colonels
Kuropatkin,
the recommendation of General Gloukhovskoe a Naval
Brigade had originally been summoned from Cronstadt ^to attempt

the navigation of the Atrek. When this proved a failure the sailors
and their officers were sent on to the front.
FROM THE CASP1AX
TO
MERV
81
and Haidaroff, advancing two from the

from the west. At 7 A.M. the breachand
one
south,
Kozelkoff,
ing battery reopened fire with thirty-six guns upon

the old breach and soon knocked it down again, the
through the aperture into the densely

packed interior, where they wrought fearful destrucAt 11.20 the gunpowder mine was sprung on
tion.
shells crashing
a prodigious column of mingled dust

and smoke shot high into the air, and, falling, disclosed a yawning cavity fifty yards wide.
At the
the S.E. face
two main storming

columns, shouting hurrah/ rushed at the gap, where
a terrific hand-to-hand fight was waged with bayonet,
same
instant the soldiers of the

c
lance,
and sword.
Eeserves came up from the rear,
with bands playing, drums

flying, to
beating,
and colours
support the attack.
Simultaneously, the third column, with the aid of

scaling ladders, stormed the western face of the fort.
Inside
was
be seen a sea of tents and a panic-
to
From the opposite

stricken but desperate crowd.
direction thousands of fugitives streamed out on to
the plain
but
all
through the day more resolute
in huts or holes inside the enclosure,

spirits, concealed
continued to start out and fire at the victorious
Boulangier, in his book, speaking of the

assault, says, At this solemn moment Skobeleff shone
so splendidly in the eyes of his men, that he seemed
enemy.
to their imagination to
As a matter
of fact
it
a type of the god of war/

was rather difficult either for
5
Skobeleff to shine on this occasion, or for his

see
him
for
men
to
he took no part in the attack himself,

a
82
but, as a prudent general should, directed the opera-
Boulangier's phrase was based

misunderstanding of an account which Dr.
from the
tions
on a
rear.
Heyfelder had given him of a mimic repetition of the

assault which Skobeleff ordered a few weeks later for
the entertainment of a distinguished Persian khan,
and which lie led with boyish enthusiasm himself.
Within
less
than an hour of the assault, the three
columns had joined ranks inside the fort; and in

close formation, with massed bands, advanced to
the hill of Denghil Tepe, from which at 1 P.M. the
two-headed eagle, fluttering in the breeze, proclaimed
a Eussian victory.
Then ensued the
Pursuit
unearthe entire
campaign.
least creditable
At 4
in
episode of the
the afternoon Skobeleff
cavalry through the breach and ordered both

horse and foot to pursue the retreating enemy and
l ec l
hi
fe
to give
no quarter.
This
savage precision by both
command was obeyed with

till
darkness
fell
by the
infantry (six companies) for a distance of seven miles,

by the cavalry (a division of dragoons and four
sotnias of Cossacks) for eleven miles, supported
by a
horse artillery with long range guns.

Eight thousand persons of both sexes and all ages
were mercilessly cut down and slain, * On the mornbattery of
ing
after the battle they
lay in rows like
freshly
mown
hay, as they had been swept down by the

In the fort were found the
mitrailleuses and cannon.'
corpses of 0,500 men, and some thousands of living
women and
children.
There
too, in
General Grode-

kofTs
own
words,
'
all
83
who had not succeeded in esa man by the Eussian soldiers,
caping were killed to

the only males spared being the Persian prisoners,
who were
legs,
and of
that only
by
easily recognised
whom
the fetters on their
there were about 600 in
After
all.
women and children, to the number of about
5,000, were
left.'
The troops were allowed
to loot
without interruption for four days, and booty to the

value of 600,000/. was found inside the fortress. In
the operations of the day the Russian loss was only
GO killed and 340 wounded during the entire cam;
paign 283 killed and 689 wounded. Within the

same time Skobeleff admitted that he must have
destroyed 20,000 of the enemy.
It was not a rout, but a massacre
but extirpation; and
not a defeat,
not surprising that after

this drastic lesson, the Tekkes of the Akhal oasis
have never
lifted
it
is
little
querors.
An incident related to
_
finger against
me
their con-
in Transcaspia afforded
t*
11
an interesting cor- operation ot the immeasurable

effect that was produced upon the inhabitants by
I have already narrated that
this disastrous day.
the Eussian columns advanced to
the assault with
drums beating and bands
playing, a favourite plan of

Five years later,
Skobeleff's whenever he attacked.
when
the railway was opened to Askabad, and in the

course of the inaugural ceremonies the Eussian mili-
tary music began to play, the Turkoman women and

children raised woful cries of lamentation, and the
U
L>
impression
kft upon
the con-
84
men threw
themselves on the ground with their fore-
heads in the dust. 1
For the horrible carnage that followed upon the

capture of Geok Tepe, Skobeleff and the Russians
cannot escape reproach. The former, though generous
and merciful towards his own men, had no pity for
To an
an enemy.
utter contempt for
human
life
he
joined a physical excitement on the battlefield, by

which his followers as well as himself were trans'
It was written of him that
he rode to
ported.
battle clad in white, decked with orders, scented and
a bridegroom to a wedding, his eyes

gleaming with wild delight, his voice tremulous with
joyous excitement.' War was to him the highest
curled, like
expression of human force and in action he seemed

The Turkomans
to acquire a perfect lust for blood.
;
called
him Guenz
Kanli, or .Bloody Eyes, and his
presence inspired them with a
When
superstitious terror.
organising his forces before the
campaign he
with humani-
particularly requested that no officers

tarian ideas should be sent to the front.
to the chief of the staff of the
District
he wrote as follows
Compare with
this
In a letter
Caucasus Military
the account given by General Grodekoff
(chap, xv.) of an incident that occurred during the siege on .January 8,

*
Both bodies of Turkoman troops were
the night of the grand sortie.
close to the
Kala
(i.e.
forth from the trenches,
fortified redoubt)
and the Tekkes
when suddenly music
burst
at once hastened to retire into
the fortress. This music, it appeared, exercised a most depressing influence upon the Turkomans, and one which they could not shake off,
It forced the Ishans (i.e. priests) to pray, and caused universal terror ;
for
whenever the music played they imagined the Russians were
advancing to the
assault.'
85
The hard
necessities of war are everywhere alike, and the

taken
steps
by Lomakin (in September 1879) require no
There is no doubt as to this in my own mind,
justification.
or as to the soldier being permitted to have no opinions of

own in such matters, and being solely obliged to obey
I must ask you, for the good of the service, and for
orders.
his
the sake of the duty entrusted to me, only to send me officers

whose sole idea is their duty, and who do not entertain
1
visionary sentiments.
Geok Tepc had fallen and the rout was

How unutterably bored I am,
remarked
he
over,
His own cruelty was not
there is nothing left to do.'
After
'
when
the fight was

over, might be seen walking about, holding the little
I have narfatherless Tekke children by the hand.
shared by
many
of his men, who,
rated or revived these incidents, because, repellent
though they be
and
to nineteenth-century notions,
discreditable to the Eussian character, they do not
stand alone in the history of Eussian Conquest in

Central Asia, 2 but arc profoundly characteristic of
the methods of warfare
sistently
and
by which
siicccboiully set
that race has con-
about the subjugation
of Oriental peoples.
SkobelefFhimself candidly expressed it as follows
'
I hold it as a principle that in Asia the duration of
:
in direct proportion to the slaughter
peace
is
inflict
upon the enemy.
The harder you
the longer they will be quiet afterwards.

1
Grodekoff, chap. xvi.

Compare the massacre of the
General Kaufmann after the

kin' s
1879.
bombardment
hit
you
them
My system
Yomud Turkomans at Kizil Takir by
of Khiva in 1873, and General Lomaof Tckke women and children at Denghil Tepe in
fall
Hi prin,
warfare
86
is
this
To
resistance
is
hard, and keep on hitting till

completely over then at once to form
strike
ranks, cease slaughter, and be kind and humane to

the prostrate enemy/
greater contrast than this
can scarcely be imagined to the British method,
which
is
to strike gingerly a series of taps, rather
than a downright blow
rigidly to prohibit all pillage
or slaughter, and to abstain not less wholly from

But there can be no
subsequent fraternisation.
doubt that the Eussiari tactics, however deficient they

may be from the moral, are exceedingly effective
from the practical point of view and that an Oriental

people in particular, on whose memory has been
;
stamped the print of some such
terrible disaster, are
disposed to recognise in the heavy hand of the conqueror the all-powerful will of God, and to pass at
once from furious antagonism to peaceful and even

friendly submission.
Of
character
Sk
kff
His
are
and nature many stories

who were brought into contact
He was one of those
campaign.
Skobeleff's character
still
told. by
with him in
those
this
rare spirits who, like Napoleon, exercised a magnetic

influence over other men, and the mere sight of
whose white uniform, flashing
Henry
the plume of
of Navarre, electrified his troops on the field
of combat.
hundred exploits
like
testify to his
mag-
1
The criticism of Skobeleff's character is my own, and has not
been borrowed from any one source certainly not, as some of the
Russian papers seemed to imagine in noticing my original articles,
from Dr. Heyfelder, who never spoke to me of the general without
affection and respect, or of the Russians generally without admira;
tion.
87
nificent courage and insensibility to danger.

He
had only twice been wounded in his life, and frequently declared, The bullet does not exist that
can strike me down.' On one occasion, before Geok
Tepe, he was leisurely surveying the fortress amid a
'
storm of bullets, when the staff-surgeon joined him.

This is no place for you,' said Skobeleff, I order
6
'
you
to
go.'
The surgeon protested that by the
general's side he
was the
safe.
am
you do not go,

immediately put you under arrest.' The
invulnerable,'
well, I will
considered himself
reply,
but
if
surgeon having retired, Skobeleff then took a seat,

and calmly sat down to continue his observations
amid the
fire
In the
of the enemy.
Turkoman campaign he
declined to allow
His caprice
any newspaper correspondents with his force a

decision but for which poor O'Donovan would probably never have had either the temptation or the
opportunity to strike out for Merv and did not
have a single newspaper sent after him to the front.

a commander, though severe upon others, he set
a most dangerous example himself, for he knew no
As
discipline,
mands of
and just
as he
had disobeyed the com-
his superior officers in
the Turkish war,
so he neglected the orders of the Emperor in the
Turkoman campaign.
Nevertheless, a general at
he succumbed to a
thirty, and a popular idol when
discreditable end at the early age of thirty-eight, it
impossible to say if he had lived what he might
not have done or have become.
is
His private character was more eccentric
still
Idiosyncrasies.
88
curious jumble of nobility and meanness, of manly

At one time he
attributes, and of childish temper.
was bold, imperious, inspired at another, querulous

and morose now sanguine, now despondent, changing
;
his
mood,
like a
chameleon
its
colour, half a dozen
times in the day.

Even his friends were made the
victims of these Protean transformations, being alternately
treated with
affection
would be
transition
reflected
and contempt.
in
his
The
countenance,
which was now beautiful, now ugly, and in his physical

condition, which oscillated between masculine vigour
After Geok Tepe he was
some weeks, and, though always on horseback,
yet after a long ride he would return so prostrated
that he almost fell from his saddle, and had to retire
and nervous exhaustion.

ill
for
to his
bed
for days.
He was
a magnificent figure
mounted, and was proud of his horses, which were

always white or grey, as he had a passion for that
and even forgave a personal enemy who with

diplomacy presented him with a fine white
colour,
true
charger bought for the purpose in Moscow. But his

horses were not safer from his incurable caprice than
were
his friends.
For when on one occasion
after
Geok Tepe
the grey Persian which he was

riding into the fort refused to cross the little canal
that flowed into the camp, he gave it away at once,
the
fall
of
and never mounted

is
His unscrupulousness
well illustrated by the episode with which he comit
again.
menced his public career. Then a young officer of

hussars in Turkestan, and burning for distinction, he
presented a report to Kaufmann, the Governor-General,
89
upon the successful suppression of a horde of brigands

on the Bokharan frontier, in which he claimed to
have killed over forty of the bandits. The whole
thing subsequently turned out to be a myth, there
1
being no brigands at all.
Two anecdotes I heard in Transcaspia which
afford not a bad illustration of his wayward and ill.
Geok Tepe, a
Russian general arrived from the Grand Duke Michael,
balanced nature.
at that time
spect the
After the
fall
of
Governor-General of the Caucasus, to
camp and
troops,
and to make a
in-
This
report.
General Pavloff by name, had originally been

appointed, after the death of General Petrusevitch, to
officer,
replace
Skobeleff,
if
the latter were killed
but
arriving at Krasnovodsk on the very day of the fell

of Geok Tepe, he was instructed to proceed in order
to discuss with the
Commander-in-Chief the future
Skobelcff was very angry

indeed, because this officer, though of inferior military
settlement of the oasis.
rank to himself (he having been promoted for the

affair of Geok Tepe), would yet take precedence of
him on this occasion as the representative of the

Grand Duke. Accordingly he did his best to shirk
a meeting altogether, and was infuriated when, the
general having fallen ill at Bahmi, he was at length
compelled to go and meet him, and above all to go
in a carriage, a thing which he had never before done
of war.
The general proposed that they
both
should
retire to Krasnovodsk to discuss the
in time
Vide Autobiographical Sketches, by Vassili Verestchagin
lated).
1887, vol.
ii.
p. 257.
(trans-
Anecdotes
of his
whims
IN CENTRAL ASIA
fiUSSIA
90
question of decorations, &c. Then the patience of

Skobeleff broke down, or rather his unscrupulous
came
arrived with the news
resourcefulness
vancing from Merv.

for
him
to
in.
telegram
It
was, of course, impossible

he must return
Krasnovodsk
proceed to
suddenly
that 6,000 Tekkes were ad-
Orders were given for an

expedition to be prepared ; the medical staff was
at once to the camp.
required to get ready and some regiments which

were to leave for Russia on the next day, and had
;
made
preparations for departure, were

countermanded at the last moment. Meanwhile the
all
their
luckless general, who was \liefons et origo mali, had

retired alone to the Caspian.
When he was well off
the scene of action Skobeleff's cheerfulness revived.

*
Let us wait a
he said
'
possibly the telegram

sure
may
enough another telegram
soon followed saying that it was not 6,000 but 600
Tekkes who were on the way, and that they were
not be
little,'
And
true.'
coming, not to attack the Eussian camp, but to seek

their families
not
that" the trick
story of
knew
friends.
The curious thing was,
succeeded, but that every soldier
had been played by Skobeand admired him none the less.
in the force
leff,
and
ew weeks
that
it
Geok Tepe, a
the
Governor or Ilkhani
distinguished Persian Khan,
of Kuchan, wliose full name was Shuja ud Daulat
f
after the storming of
Amir Hussein Khan, rode
into the
camp with an
escort of 300 Persians to congratulate Skobeleff on

The latter, who was in a pet, and did
his victory.
not want to be bored with entertainment, his thoughts
91
being centred in an advance upon Merv, had already

ridden off to Lutfabad, leaving liis guest to the care
of his staff.
The eminent Persian was very much
offended at this want of respect, and speaking at a
banquet said that he had come to compliment the
Eussian commander, but as the commander was not
forthcoming he must depart. An aide-de-camp at

once galloped off with this ultimatum to Skobeleff,
presently turned up much against his will, and
organised for the Khan the mimic assault to which I
who
have before alluded.

given in his honour.
commenced when an
In the evening a dinner was
The meal, however, had hardly

officer arrived
from
St.
Peters-
burg, bringing a decoration for SkobelefT and deHastily deserting his

spatches from the Emperor.
place by the Khan, with the feigned excuse of feeling
a draught, Skobeleff commissioned an officer of inferior
rank to
down
a place lower
from
St.
his seat, while
fill
Petersburg.
very much
insulted,
he himself moved
to chat with the
new
to
arrival
Presently the Khan, being

rose and said c Good-night.'
Skobeleff then made excuses for his breach of manners,
remembering the draught, found himself unable

The story, which
to return to the head of the table.
but,
I heard from an eye-witness, is interesting only as an

illustration of his whimsical and petulant temper.
If
we were
laid stress
to
upon
ing personality
in Central Asia
thatj
sum up
it,
his character
and
as that of the only really
whom
have
command-
the history of Eussian advance
has produced
we might
conclude
though a greatly gifted, Skobeleff was not a great
Final
02
man, being
deficient in stability, in principle,
and
in
In
many respects bis character was typical of

the Russian nation, in its present phase of develop-
faith.
ment, with one foot, so to speak, planted in a barbarian past, while the other is advancing into a new
world of ideas and action. To many it will seem that
he died
in
a happy hour, both for his country, which
might have suffered from his insensate levity and

passion for war, and for himself, seeing that his
reputation, which a premature
death has
now
en-
shrined in legend, might not have permanently survived the touchstone of truth. Russian writers are
very sensitive indeed of criticism upon one who was

both a political idol and the darling of the army.
But foreigners are, perhaps, better able than his own

countrymen to ascertain the true perspective of this
meteoric phenomenon. They may confess, what the
ardour of a patriot might tempt him to conceal, that
the light which
sometimes
Turkoman
it
shed, though often dazzling,
was
lurid.
Between Geok Tepe and the
capital,
Askabad, a
of about twenty-eight miles, the

railway
passes through a country of more extensive cultivadistance
and greater fertility. Tending their flocks, or

riding on horses or asses, are to be seen numerous
Turkomans, father and son sometimes bestriding the
same animal. In these peaceful and
unimposing
rustics, who would divine the erewhile scourge and
man-hunter of the desert ? Clad in his dilapidated
tion
cotton dressing-gown or khalat, and with a

huge
as big as a grenadier's
brown sheepskin bonnet, almost
FROM THE CASPIAN TO MKRV
93
bearskin, overshadowing his dusky features, he does
not perhaps look like a civilised being, but still less

would you take him for a converted Dick Turpin or
Claude Duval.
moss- troopers
Excellent agriculturists these ancient

are said to be, and now that the
heyday of licence and war and plunder has faded

into a dream, they settle
down
to a peasant's exis-
TURKOMAN VJLLAGK AM> ORCHARDS.
tence with
as
much contentment
leaped to saddle
Khorasan.
for
foray on
as they formerly
the
Askabad, which we next reach, has

ance of a large and flourishing place.
frontiers
all
of
the appear-
Its station is
of European proportions and appointment.

of droshkies attend the arrival of the trains
Numl >ers
;
and the
crowded platform indicates a considerable population.
Askabad
94
was informed that the present figures are 10,000

but these, which I believe to be an exaggerated
I
estimate, include the troops, of
which there are three
battalions and a regiment of Cossacks in or near

the town while two batteries of artillery are, I
rifle
believe, stationed
Askabad
is
further
south, at
Annan
Sagait.
the residence of the Governor-General and
Commander-in-Chief (the two functions in a military

rfyime being united in the same individual), and the
The present
administrative centre of Transcaspia.
Governor
is
1
General Komaroff, a
man whose name
is
Englishmen as the Eussian commander

in the famous affair on the Kushk, on March 30, 1885,
well
known
to
which we have named from the contiguous and
dis-
puted district of Penjdeh. Into the question at issue

between him and Sir Peter Lumsdcn I do not wish to
re-enter.
I afterwards
met General Komaroff, and
enjoyed an interesting conversation with him, to which

lie is a short,
I shall have occasion further to allude.
middle-aged man, with a bald head, spectacles,

and a square grizzled beard, and cannot be described
stout,
as of dignified appearance.
Indeed he reminded
of a university professor dressed
metamorphosed from a
up
in uniform,
civilian into a
soldier.
me
and
To
administrative energy he adds the tastes of a student
and the enthusiasm of an antiquarian

1
having, as he
Alexander Komaroff was born in 1830, entered the army at the
age of nineteen, being gazetted to the Imperial Guard, was sent to the
Caucasus in 1855, served under General Mouravieff at Kars, was subsequently appointed Governor of Derbent and chief of the military
administration of the native tribes of the Caucasus
was made a
Lieutenant- General in 1877, and Governor-General of Transcaspia in

1888.
95
informed me, amassed a collection of the antiquities

of Transcaspia, including a statuette, apparently of
Athene, of the best Greek period, some ornaments in
the
style of
the beautiful Kertch collection at St.
Petersburg, and no less than forty specimens of coins

not previously known.
The Government of
i
Transcaspia, lias, during the

T
i
reached such dimensions that rumours
i
last live years,

v
have been heard of
-,.
approaching declaration of
independence of the Caucasus, by the GovernorGeneral of which it is still controlled \vhilo a short
its
time ago General Komaroff is said to have defeated

a scheme to render it subordinate to the Governor-
General of Turkestan, hitherto the greatest potentate

of Central Asia, and to have sought from the Emperor
If subthe privilege of responsibility to him alone.
ordination to the Caucasus is perpetuated, it will
only be because of the easy and uninterrupted com-
munication between Transcaspia and that part of the

empire, in contrast to European Kussia, and because
war the Caucasus would be the base from

which reinforcements and supplies would naturally be
in time of
on the other hand, it is placed under

Turkestan, it will be because of the danger of divided
drawn.
If,
military action in a region so critical as the Afghan

In any case, the increasing importance of
border.
.Transcaspia affords a striking illustration of a fact, to
which
I shall frequently revert, viz. the shifting from

east to west of the centre of gravity in the Central
Asian dominions of the Czar, with

ings, of incalculable importance,
its
consequent bear-
upon the
relations
Govern-
mentof
Tnuiscaspia
96
of Russia and Great Britain in the East.
Transcaspia,
with an inhabited area of 13,000 square geographical
now
miles,
consists of three districts
and two sub-
each governed by a colonel or lieutenantcolonel, viz. Mangishlak with its capital Fort Alexandrovsk on the Caspian, Krasnovodsk, Akhal Tekke
districts,
Askabad, Tejend, and Merv. To these

are added the two territories, administered by comIts population
missioners, of Yuletan and Sarakhs.
with
its
capital
has been ludicrously exaggerated in
extant English
works, and consists, according to the latest returns, of
311,000 persons (exclusive of the Russian army and
administration), of
number 110,000
whom
and
it
the
all
Turkomans of Merv
includes
all
the four prin-
named, besides the Atrek region

which was joined to Akhal Tekke in 1886, and the
minor oases inhabited by the Sarik and Salor Turkocipal oases already
mans
tire
of Yuletan, Sarakhs, and Penjdeh.
Of the en-
population 83 per cent, are Turkomans, 14 per
Mangishlak peninsula), and the

remaining 3 per cent., or 9,000, Russians, Armenians,
Persians, Jews, and Bokhariots.
cent. Kirghiz (of the
Resources
In 1885 the wealth of Transcaspia in animals was

computed as follows 107,000 camels, 68,000 horses,
:
22,000 asses, 47,000 horned

sheep.
Of natural
cattle,
and 1,400,000
resources, 8,064 tons of salt were
reported to have been extracted in the Krasnovodsk

district, and 120,000 gallons of petroleum from the
In the same year, i.e., before

the extension of the Transcaspian Railway, the imports were roughly estimated at 300,000/., the exports
wells of Bala Ishem.

at 77,300/., figures
by
97
which would be completely dwarfed
the present returns.
In 1885, the following sums
were said to have been raised in taxation
91,000
roubles house-tax, or rather tent-tax, levied on each
kibitka, 15,000 roubles customs or caravan-tax, 1,200
roubles house-tax levied in the
hand, in 1887 the State
cities.
On
the other
and Land Taxes combined
are
have produced a revenue of 27,400/. from

Transcaspia. These totals, again, supply an imperfect
said to
more recent computations.

Askabad itself has a printing-press, a photographic
The
establishment, and European, shops and hotels.
basis for
Buildings
town
houses are for the most part of one storey, and are
A small fortified enceinte
freely bedaubed with white.
supplies a reminder of the days, not yet ten years
gone by, when the Eussians were strangers and susIn the centre of the town is an
pects in tke land.
of the artillerymen who

were killed in the siege and capture of Geok Tepe,
and at its base are planted the Afghan guns which
obelisk erected in
memory
were captured in the skirmish on the Kushk. The

town is a purely Eussian settlement, though the business quarter has attracted a large number of Armenians, Persians, and Jews.
the Turkomans,
who
City life is avoided by

prefer the tented liberty of the
steppe.
Askabad
*
is
also a place of high strategical sigiii-
T7~,
the meeting-point ot the Khivan

and Persian roads.
Already the north of Persia
and Khorasan are pretty well at Eussian mercy
from a military point of view
though there is
ficance, as being
re
strategical
importance
ofAskabad
and roads
into Persia
1)8
some bravado
in talking, as the Russians
always do,
of the Shah as a vassal, and of Persia as in a parallel

Since the occupation of
plight to Bokhara or Khiva.
Transcaspia the "Russians have rendered an advance

still more
easy by constructing a military road from
20
ft.
to 24
broad, and available for artillery, from

the Kopet Dagli to the Persian frontier,
ft.
Askabad over
where
terminates abruptly at one of the

frontier pillars placed by the Commission near the
hamlet of ]Jaz Girha. The distance is thirty miles from
at present
it
At present
nothing better than a

mountain track, descending upon the other side to
Kuchan and the high road to Meshed a contrast which
Askabad.
there
is
is
due to the
failure of the Persians to fulfil their part
of the bargain, Eussia having undertaken to construct

the first section of the chaussee to the frontier, while
the remaining portion of forty miles to Kuchan was to

be laid by General Gasteiger Khan for the Government
of the Shah.
To
this co-operate
roadway was
to
be
joined a steam tramway originally projected by a

merchant named Nikolaieff, which was to cover the
remaining 100 miles to Meshed, and, under the guise

of commercial transit, to provide Eussia with a private
way
of entry into Khorasan,
believe that, elated with
its
There
is
reason to
recent successes in the
matter of a Eussian consul at Meshed, the Imperial

Government is urgently pressing for the execution
of this project
and
any moment we may find that

has shifted from the Afghan to
at
the centre of interest
a question of which I
In any case,
shall have something to say later on.
the Persian frontier.
This
is
FROM THE GASMAN TO MERV
99
whether a future movement upon Khorasanbe forcible

or pacific, this road will without doubt afford the main
and a most
effective line of advance.
Already
it
has
been announced in the press that it is beginning to

be used by Bokharan merchants, in connection with
the caravan routes through Persia from the ports of
Bender-Abbas or Bushire, for merchandise from India,
but
in preference to the shorter
less safe
and more
costly routes through Afghanistan.

politic act on the part of General
Annenkoff was
the issue of a proclamation pointing out the ad van-
tages of his railway, in connection with the Askabadroad, to pilgrims of the Shiite persuasion,
Kuchan
both from Western Persia and from the provinces

of the Caucasus, desirous of reaching the sacred city
of Meshed advantages by which I was informed
they already profit in considerable numbers.

Not that the orthodox Sunnitc is without his equal
It is, in fact,
consolations from the line.
becoming a
that
popular method v/f locomotion, on the first part of the

way to Mecca, for the devout hadji of Bokhara,
Samarkand, and the still further east. Six thousand
such pilgrims travelled upon
it
in
1887
and
it
was
1
Vide the following extract from the journal of the Russian
Some successful attempts have
Ministry of Finance (No. 19, 1889)
certain
introduce
to
made
been
goods (chiefly green tea) from
recently
India into Bokhara by the roundabout way of Bender-Bushire, Persia,
Askabad, and beyond by the Transcaspian railway. This route has
*
been chosen by Bokharan merchants, according to the testimony of

the chief official of the Bokharan Customs, in consequence of the
facilities offered by the railway for the transport of goods, and also
because merchandise brought thereby escapes the exorbitant transit
dues imposed by the Afghans.'
ic
Use
of the
ptlgSSs
and Mecca
KUSSIA IN CENTRAL AHIA
100
estimated that the total would reach ten thousand in
1888.
The Atek
oaaisand
after leaving
Amoiiff
G Askabad
& the stations passed
*
are Gyaurs and Baba Dunnaz, both of which were
names during the epoch when Eussian diplomacy averred and British credulity believed that the
limit of Russian advance could be drawn somewhere
familiar
or anywhere between Askabad and Merv. The former

is
generally recognised as the commencement of the
Atek or mountain-base
oasis, in
and agriculture continue
which horticulture
and which
to prevail,
is
greater part of
it
was acquired by
pro-
The
longed as far as the rich pastures of Sarakhs.
treaty with Persia
Baba Durmaz, is
only a few miles from Lutfabad, a Persian town on
the near side of the mountains, round which a loop
in 1881.
Artik, the next station to
was thrown, leaving

that followed
it
to Persia, in the delimitation
upon the treaty of
that year.
The
oasis
ends at Dushak, a place of considerable importance,

inasmuch "as it is the present southernmost station of
the line, where the rails run nearest to Afghanistan,
and the consequent starting-point for Sarakhs and
the frontier at Zulfikar, from which
When
130 miles.
southerly
which
it is
distant only
any extension of the
direction
is
have more
contemplated
line
in a
a subject of
might possibly be
from Dushak (a Persian name with the curiously apt
I shall
signification of
Two
to say
it
Branches) that
it
would
start
and should the idea of an Indo-Russian railway ever

emerge from the limbo of chimeras in which it is at
present interned,
it
would be from Dushak that the
FROM THE CASPIAX TO MKliV
101
with Chaman, Quetta, and the Bolau

would most naturally be laid.
lines of junction
Some
on our return journey conV\ t

templated
making
c a little excursion irom Dushak over
1
the Persian frontier to the native Khanate of Kelat-iof
my
_
friends
Refusal of
permission
to visit
Kelatand
Meshed
Nadiri and possibly even as far as Meshed, a distance

over a very rough mountain road of eighty miles
but on telegraphing to the Eussian authorities at
;
Askabad
return
by
and to
same route, we were peremptorily for-
for permission to pass the frontier
the
who dictated the despatch

quently informing me that the frontier was not
bidden, the officer
subsesafe in
these parts, a murder having recently been committed

there or thereabouts, and that the consent of the Persian authorities
would have had
be obtained from
to
Teheran, as well as a special authorisation from St.

Petersburg an accumulation of excuses which was
hardly wanted to explain the refusal of the Eussians

to allow three Englishmen to visit so tenderly
nursed a region as the frontiers of Khorasan. Kelat,

indeed, is understood to be the point of the Persian
frontier
where Eussian
influence, and,
it
is
alleged,
Eussian roubles, are most assiduously at work
where the troubles and
and
risk of future conquest are
being anticipated by the surer methods of subsidised

conciliation.
have seen Kelat-i-Nadiri,

which is a most interesting place, and of which more
will be heard in the future.
Visited, or mapped, or
I should greatly like to
described,
Khorasan
by
'),
Sir C.
MacGregor ( Journey through

Colonel Valentine Baker (' Clouds in the
Keiat-i-
102
5
O'Donovan ('The Morv Oasis'), and Captain

A. C. Yate ('Travels with the Afghan Boundary
Commission '), it is known to be one of the strongest
East
),
An
natural fortresses in the world.

of intensely fertile
is
soil,
irrigated
entirely surrounded
communication by a
elevated valley
by a perennial stream,
and shut out from external
lofty
mountain
barrier,
from 800
from
to 1,200 feet high, with a precipitous scarp of
300
to (500 feet.
The
cliffs
are pierced
by only
five
passages, which are strongly fortified and impregnable

to attack.
The entire enclosure, which O'Donovan
very aptly compared with the

Rasselas,
and which
is
Happy
Valley
in miniature,
kingdom
of
is
twenty-one miles long and from five to seven miles

broad. Its value to Russia lies in its command of
the head-wT aters of the streams that irrigate the Atek.
In the spring of this year (April 1889) it was rumoured
that Kelat
had been ceded by Persia
to Eussia
quiries very happily proved that this

The Tejend
oasi.i
From
Duslutk, where
.
we
but en-
was not the case.
finally lose sight of the

r
great mountain wall, under the shadow ot winch we

have continued so long, the railway turns at an angle
towards the north-oast and enters the Tejend oasis.
Presently it crosses the river of that name, which is

merely another title for the lower course of the Heri
Rud, where it emerges from the mountains and

meanders over the sandy plain (the oasis is a thing of
the future rather than of the present) prior to losing
itself in a marshy swamp in the Kara Kum.
Among
the rivers of this country, none present more striking
contrasts, according to the season of the year, than the
FROM
MEEV
Tin: rjX/YJ.V TO
103
At time of high water, in April and May, it

has a depth of forty feet, and a width, in different
Tcjend.
from eighty yards to a quarter of a mile.

Later on, under the evaporation of the summer heats,
parts, of
it
shrinks to a narrow streamlet, or
by
irrigation canals.
grown by
is
utterly exhausted
The Tejend swamp
is
over-
a sort of cane-brake or jungle teeming with
wild fowl and game, of every description, particularly
TEKKE CHIKFS OK
wild boars.
General AmienkofTs
the river at a point where
wide.
water
TIIK TK.IKXT) OASTS.
it is
from 80
Then follow the sands again

lias
not been conducted there
meaning of an
bridge crosses
first
oasis in those parts
is,
to
for
is
100 yards
wherever
sand, and the
as
have
said,
simply a steppe rendered amenable to culture by artificial irrigation, there

being no reason why, if a more
104
abundant water supply could either be manipulated

or procured, the whole
country should not in time, if
I may coin the word, be oasified. The sands continue
for nearly fifty miles,
the midst of
life
till
we
again find ourselves in
and verdure, and on the early morn-
ing of our second day after leaving the Caspian glide

into a station bearing the historic name of Merv.
105
CHAPTER V
FROM
1VIRRV
TO THE OX US
But
have seen
Afrasiab's cities only, Samarkand,

Bokhara, and lone Khiva in the waste,
And
the black Toorkraun tents
and only drunk
Moorghub and Tejend,

KohiK, and where the Kalmuks feed their sheep,
The Northern Sir, and the great Oxus stream,
The yellow Oxus.
MATTHEW ARNOLD, Sohrab and Ruslant.
The
desert rivers,
1
Appearance of the modern Merv

ancient
1884
Merv
The Russian town History of the

Merv Russian annexation in
British travellers at
Fertility, resources,
tration, taxation,
and
and population
irrigation
AdminisFuture develop-
of the oasis
Trade returns
ment of the oasis Turkoman character Strategical importance of

Merv Ferment on the Afghan frontier arising out of the revolt of
Is-hak Khan -Movements of Is-hak and Abdurrahman Colonel
Alikhanoff, Governor of Merv The Turkoman militia Possible
increase of the force The Turkoman horses The Khans of Merv
Old cities of
at Baku The ruined fortress of Koushid Khan Kala
Merv Emotions of the traveller Central Asian scenery The
Sand-dunes again Description of the ancients Difficulties of the
rnilway The Oxus Width and appearance of the channel
General Annenkoff's railway bridge Its temporary character
The Oxus
WHEN
flotilla.
O'Donovan rode
after following
.
into
Merv on March
1881,
Appear-
on horseback much the same route
men
1,
from the Persian frontier as we have been doing by

1
The Kohik
Bokhara.
is
the modern Zerafshan, which waters
Samarkand and
Merv
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL
106
rail,
AMA
he confessed to a sense of disappointment at
finding the
domes and minarets of the great city of

a couple of hundred
his imagination dwindle into
huts, placed on the right
The
visitor of to-day,
O'Donovan and
hank of a scanty stream.
who, though he be, thanks to

better
others,
informed, yet
still
expects some halo of splendour to linger round the

ancient Queen of the World, suffers an almost similar
He sees only a nascent and as yet

Russian
town, with some station
very embryonic
disenchantment.
buildings,
two or three
streets
of irregular
wooden
houses, and of generally inchoate appearance, and

that is all.
No ancient city, no ruins, no signs of
former greatness or reviving prosperity. It is true

that on the other side of the Murghab
at the season
of the year when I saw it a slender but very muddy
stream, flowing in a deep bed between lofty banks,
and here crossed by a wooden pile bridge, fifty-five
yards long he sees looming up the earthen walls of
the unfinished fortress of
Koushid Khan Kala, upon
which the Mervi were so busily engaged during

O'Donovan's stay in 1881. But these have to a large
extent been pulled
and the romance
or have fallen into decay

not restored to them by the dis;
now
contain several unimpeachable

dwellings of European structure and
covery that they
whitewashed
is
down
appearance, which are in fact the Eussian
and
official
and comprise the residences of

Colonel Alikhanoff, Governor of Merv, General Annenkoff, the colonel commanding the garrison, and others,
quarters,
edifices,
as well as public gardens
and a small Russian church.
FROM
The
fact
city, or
is
a city at
(he
THE
TO
OXUti
107
Merv never was nn important
that this
even
occupied by
JJ/AY.T
all.
merely a
It is
site, first
Tekke Turkomans when under
their
famous leader Koushid Khan they swept up the valley

of the Murghab in the year 185(5, driving the Sariks
or previous settlers before them, and ousting them
1UIIT)(4K
i'roni
OVKK
TITK MT'IUIJIAI'. AT MKKV.
their city of Porsn. l\ala,
ruins of which
the.
si ill
Not that (he Sank

stand twenty miles to the south.
of
city itself had any closer connection with the Merv
antiquity,
Arab
the
Merv
or Giaour
scribes wrote so lovingly,
Merv uns
the Persian,
Maonr
or
Merou
of which
and of which Moore
thfi
Tartar name.
RVS8TA
108
Itf
CENTRAL AMA
And fairest of all streams the Murga roves

Among Merou's bright palaces and groves.
The
real
and ancient Merv or
were three successive
Mervs
for
there
are situated ten miles
cities
across the plain to the east, and will be mentioned

later on.
of these was sacked

was only after the youngest
*
i
ot
the
last century, and the irrigation
the end
It
The
*"
Busflian
town
-i
at
works, upon which
depended, were destroyed,

that the Turkomans moved westwards and made the
its life
western branch of the Murghab their headquarters.

Of a people who led so unsettled a life, and whose
largest centre of population
it
camp,
relics
would be
was not a
useless to expect
and therefore
it
is
city
but a
any permanent
not surprising that the
present Merv consists only of the rickety town which

the Russians have built, and which is inhabited mainly
by
Persians, Jews,
and Armenians, and of the
official
quarter before alluded to within the mouldering walls

of the never-completed Tekke fortress.
The town
itself,
so far from increasing,
diminishing in
is
at the present
A visitor
numbers.
in
moment
1886 describes
population as 3,000 but it cannot now be more

than one-third of that total. The reason of the
its
diminution
is this.
From
the time of the annexation
and while the railway was being

pushed forward to Amu Daria, Merv was the headThere
quarters of General Annenkoff and his staff.
in February, 1884,
was a sudden
inflation of business,
shops were run
up, merchants came, and the brand-new
Merv
fancied

that
it
nown.
109
had inherited some aroma of the ancient
re-
club-house, open, as the liussian military

clubs always are, to both sexes, provided a centre of
social reunion,
and
festivity.
and was the scene of weekly dancing

For the less select, a music-hall re-
echoed on the banks of the Murghab the airs of

Offenbach and the melodies of Strauss. The Turkomans, attracted by the foreign influx, flocked in
large numbers from their settlements on the oasis,
and drove an ephemeral but thriving
trade.
But
with the forward movement of the railway battalion,

and still more with the occupation by the line of
Bokhara and Samarkand, this fictitious importance

died away most of the shops were shut, the town
9
now
contains only 285 houses,
numbered from one
upwards, and except on bazaar days, which are twice
when
a dwindling crowd of natives collects in the open air on the other or right bank of
the Murghab, very little business appears to be done.
a week, and
the glory of Merv may revive will

the success or failure of the schemes
Whether or not
depend upon
for the regeneration of the surrounding
are
now being
Of the ancient history of Merv,

here to say that
it
which
will be sufficient
more
oasis,-
undertaken.
it
has been one ot even greater and

common with the
startling vicissitudes than are
capitals of the East.
Its glories
and
sieges
and sacks
excited the eloquence of chroniclers and the wonderment of pilgrims. Successively, a satrapy of Darius
(under the name Margush, whence obviously the
Greek Margus (Murghab) and Margiana)
a city and
History of
ancient
Merv
110
l
a province of the Parthians,
colony of Alexander
whither Orodcs transported the 10,000 Roman
soldiers whom he took prisoners in his famous victory
;
over Crassus
the site of a Christian bishopric
2
;
an
Arabian capital (where, at the end of the eighth

century, Mokannah, the veiled prophet of Khorasan,
the seat of power of a
kindled the flame of schism)
Seljuk dynasty, and the residence and last resting;
place of Alp Arslan and Sultan Sanjur; a prey to

the awful scourge of the Mongol, and an altar for the
of Jengliiz Khan a frontier outa bone of armed contention between
human hecatombs
post of Persia
Bokhara and Khiva
Turkoman encampment
and
has surely exhausted every revolution of fortune's wheel, and in its last state has
a Russian town,
it
touched the expiring chord of the diapason of roFor English travellers and readers, its
mance.
interest lies less in the faded
tomes of the past than
in the records of the present century, during
which
it, or attempts to visit it, have been

the small but heroic? band of .British pioneers
several visits to
made by
in Central Asia.
Dr. Wolff, the missionary, was twice at Merv, in

in 1844, upon his courageous errand
British
1831 and again
of enquiry into the Stoddart and Conolly tragedy at

Bokhara. Burnes halted on the Murghab, but did
1
The city was known as Antiocheia Margiana, from Antiochus

who rebuilt it and it was the capital of the Graeco- Syrian pro-
Soter,
vince of Margiana.
2
Christianity was introduced at Merv about 200 A.D., and Jacobite
and Nestorian congregations nourished there as late as .under Arab
rule.
FROM MERV TO THE OX US

not see
Merv
on
itself,
his
111
way from Bokhara
to
Meshed in 1832. Abbott and Shakespear were there

1840 on their journey to Khiva. Thomson, in 1 843,
was the next, and Wolff was the last English visitor
for nearly forty years
MacGregor and Burnaby being
in
both recalled
in 1875,
when about
to start for
from the West and North respectively.
At
Merv,
length, in
1881, the curtain of mystery, torn aside by the adventurous hand of O'Donovan, revealed the Tekke
Turkoman
clans existing under a tribal form of government, regulated by a council and presided over
by khans, and debating with

impending advance of the
feverish anxiety the
terrible
'
Ouroussi.'
The circumstances of the later and pacific annexation of Merv are well known, having been debated
in Parliament, discussed in Blue Books, and enshrined
in substantial volumes.
There can be no doubt that
immediately after the victory of Geok Tepe the

thoughts of the Russians were turned in the direction
of Merv, and Skobeleff was bitterly disappointed at
not being allowed to push on so far. Prudence, how-
and
ever,
still
more
the desirability of calming the
2
suspicions of England, suggested a temporary delay,
and the employment of more insidious means.
Vide especially The Russians at the Gates of Herat. By C.

Marvin. London, 1885.
2
On March 25, 1881, in the debate on the evacuation of Kandahar
in the House of Commons, Sir Charles Dilke (then Under- Secretary
He was
for Foreign Affairs) gave the following enigmatic assurance
1
'
able to
peror,
this statement, that the very first act of the new Emascending the throne, was to recall General Skobeleff to
make
upon
and to put a stop

had been conducting in Asia.'
St. Petersburg,
to all operations
which that general
Russian
annexation
112
Accordingly, commercial relations were opened with

the inhabitants of the Merv oasis surveys of their
country, and even of their encampment, were obtained
;
by
Alikhanoff,
who under
the guise of a merchant's
accompanied a trading caravan thither in

February 1882, and conducted secret negotiations with
clerk
the more
chieftains
propitious
plentifully distributed;
1884
and
rouble was
the
finally, in the spring of
while British hands were
full in
Upper Egypt
and no untimely interference was to be expected the
same Alikhanoff, reappearing upon the scene, enforced,
by
significant allusions to a Eussian
detachment in the
immediate neighbourhood, his demand for a surrender

of the tribe and their oasis to the Czar.
The chiefs
acquiesced and took the oath of allegiance. Komaroff's troops advanced at full speed, before the AntiItussian party, under the lead of Kadjar
Khan and
one Siakh-Push, an Afghan fanatic who seems to have

exercised an extraordinary influence over the Tekkes,
could organise a serious resistance. A few shots
were exchanged, and a certain number of Turkoman
saddles emptied the fortress of Koushid Khan Kala
;
w as occupied
T
tured
the hostile leaders fled or were

cap-
a shower of stars and medals from
St.
Peters-
burg rewarded the services of conquest or sweetened

the pains of surrender and Merv was at last made
;
part and parcel of the Russian Empire.
The flame of
diplomatic protest blazed fiercely forth in England

but, after a momentary combustion, was, as usual,
129.
Vide Parliamentary Papers,
'
Central Asia,' No.
2,
1885, pp. 118,
FROM MERV
TO THE
OX US
113
extinguished by a flood of excuses from the inexhaustible reservoirs of the Neva.
The
oasis of
Merv, which owes
its
existence to
,.,.
the bounty of the river Murghal) and its subsidiary

^
network of canals and streams, is said in most works
...
on the subject
of about 1,600 square

miles
though at present but a small fraction of this
extent is under systematic or scientific cultivation.
to
consist
Its natural fertility is greater
by
far than that of
of the three oases hitherto encountered.
As
any
early
as the tenth century the Aral) traveller, Urn IFaukal,

affirmed that * the fruits of Merv are finer than those
of any other place, and in no other city arc to be

seen such palaces and groves, and gardens and
streams/
Vanished, alas! is all this ancient splenstill

the cattle of its pastures, the fruits of its
but
dour;
orchards grapes, peaches, apricots, and mulberries
and the products of
its
fields
wheat, cotton,
and melons, yielding
barley, sorghum, sesame, rice,

from twenty-fold to one hundredfold
to those of
Khorasan. 1
are superior
other
district
between
Khiva and
any
Linked to it in a chain of fertilised tracts
towards the south and south-west are the minor

oases of Yuletan, Sarakhs, and Teujdeh, inhabited by
the Sarik and Salor Turkomans, living in scattered
encampments or
about 60,000
aouls.
The
rainfall at
temperature
of the coldest
is
joint
numbers are
compared with the 110,000

of Merv.
Of the extraneous
souls, as
Tekke Turkomans
1
whose
Merv
is fifty
18 (Reaumur)
days in the year.

that of the hottest
The mean annual

month is #4, and
month 4.
I
Fertility,
resources,
ana population of
114
population, 3,500 are Persians and Tartars, nearly the
same number Armenians, over 2,000 Eussians and

Poles, 1,000 Khivans arid Bokhariots, 300 Jews,
and a residuum of Caucasians, Greeks, Germans,
These figures,
Hungarians, Afghans, and Kirghiz.
derived from the latest available returns, are greatly
inferior
to
the
estimates published
in
extant
all
English works, which have ludicrously over-estimated

the totals.
The wealth of the oasis, other than in
the products of agriculture, sericulture, and horti-
expressed in flocks of sheep and goats, of

which there are 700,000 head, horses 20,500, asses
Its
21,500, cattle 44,000, and camels 16,500.
culture,
is
principal manufacture
Turkoman
carpets,
is
that of the
of close
now renowned
velvety
and
texture
uniform pattern, made by the women, and exported

Europe at the present rate of 4,000 a year, with a
value of 32,000/.
I take the following extract
to
verbatim from one of the
letters of the St.
<
correspondent of the Times,' to
debted for the above figures
whom
Petersburg
also I
am
in-
There are forty
Adminis-
volosts,
aouh
or sub-districts, in the
Each
Merv
circuit,
taxSn,
wit' 1 four to nine
andimga.
report to their khans,

or jrritttavs, who, in their turn, report to vhe chief of the
The ahzalml and three elders form a
territory, Alikhanoff.
for
court
the trial of small offences entailing
to five
ft
nd each HOW/ an
in each.
flArwiAvrf.
These
roubles' fine, or three days' arrest.
volott elects
an
elder,
all
up
The khan has the
right of
sentencing to twenty-five roubles' fine and seven days' arrest.
Delegates from each tribe, under the presidency of the
pristtu'y
may
with the assistance of a
inflict
fin
Avr#/,
or religious
member,
of fifteen roubles, and a punishment of four
115
months' imprisonment. Other and more important cases are

decided by Colonel Alikhanoff, with representatives from all
the sections. The taxes paid amount to five roubles per
namely, four roubles forty kopecks for the Exchequer,
In return,
for local needs, or the zemstvo.
Jcibitka
and half a rouble
all caravans entering or passing through Merv pay one-fortieth

of their goods.
This was established in 1886, because the
Bokhariots and Khivans made the Russian caravans pay. In
1886
this
duty produced 30,293 roubles 69 kopecks. The

same year were
Sown. Wheat, 450,000
crops for the
pouds
l
;
barley, 150,000 pouds
Wheat,
29.700,000
60,000 pouds. Reaped.

4,398,000 pouds;
rice,
pouds;
barley,
2,400,000 pouds. The cotton grown by the Turkomans

About eighteen
very small, and only for their own use.
miles above Merv the Koushid Khan Bend, or dam on the
rice,
is
Murghab, sends an equal flow of water into the two halves

of the oasis by means of two principal canals, the Otamish
and the Toktamish. These in their turn supply the many
smaller canals of the tribes.
looked after by an
Each
district
is
This water arrangement
called the
official
mimb,
is
elected annually.
subdivided into Itelemes, and each Jceleme
consists of twelve proprietors.

Two kelernes make an abtlt/Jc,
or sarlmr, and enjoy water for twenty-four hours in turn.
Yule tan is watered in the same way from the Murghab dam,
Kasili Bend.
Penjdeh is the worst irrigated district of all,
as the Sariks have destroyed many of the canals.
The import and export trade through Merv and the
overturn altogether are estimated at
The
figures in
1886 were
Import from Bokhara

Khiva
of roubles.
....
Dereguez
Meshed.
Afghan Turkoinania
Tashkent and Askabad
.
Total
1
five millions
The poud
30 English
585,144 roubles
G2,568
60,172
871,690
58,879
740,050
1,878,503
Ibs.
i
Trade
u
re
116
....
Export into Bokhara and Khiva

Persia
Total
Russian
articles sold in the
328,032 roubles
608^532
shops at
280,000
Merv
Bokharan goods now enter
719,705 roubles.
carno to about
free of
duty by
special favour, so that there is no means of judging their

There are also no regular statistics of goods entering
value.
by railway. Altogether the overturn is r rkoned at

millions, which is putting it at its very highest figure.
Future deyelopment
siB
In speaking,
T
oasis, 1
Merv
a backward
five
however, of the resources of the
am
xi
reierring to that
i
which
^-11
is
still
in
condition, and is capable of immense

development. The soil is well adapted to the growth
produced, the
Turkomans apparently not having taken very kindly
of cotton, though
little
is
at present
though after the llussiaii occupation

American cotton-seed were distributed
to the industry,
several tons of
gratis
among
the
inhabitants.
well as along the equally suitable
Here, however, as
banks of the Oxus,
may be
The growth of
expected.
timber, so necessary in these parched regions, has
General Komaroff told me
also been taken in hand.
improvement
that the planting of the oasis had been commenced in

real earnest, and that in time there would be growing
there not less than sixty million of trees. Three million
young saplings were already to be seen ai the height

of several feet from the ground at Bairam Ali, ten
At the same time the work of
miles to the east.
1
The
failure of the first attempts is attributed to the fact that the
came from plantations lying near the sea coast. Since

has been brought from the interior the experiment has proved more
imported seed
it
successful.
FROM MERV
scientific
irrigation,
TO THE OXUX
hitherto
neglected,
117
has
been
the repair of the great Sultan Bend Dam,

fifty-three miles further up the course of the Mur-
begun
ghab, by which alone its distribution over the lower

surfaces can be properly regulated, having been committed to a young Polish engineer named Poklcfski,
and the
entire district having
of
been made over to the
Czar
a guarantee that its

development will not be allowed to slacken, or its
revenues to result in loss to the exchequer of so
private purse
the
economical a monarch. 1
When
the
new system
of
The
following interesting description of the Sultan Bend works

translated from the Comto do Cholet's book, Excursion en
An embankment of concrete 58 feet high, acting
Turkestan, pp. 202 3
1
in 1888
is
'
completely bar the course of the river from bank to

form an immense lake 375
acres in extent, out of which four sluices will bo constructed, at a
height exactly calculated beforehand, so as to allow of the water being
distributed into big canals, carrying it into the interior of the country.
as a
(lain, will
bank.
Its waters, thus driven back, will
Special dredging machines, invented by M. Poklcfski, will be employed

to stir up the waters of the lake, and to prevent the alluvium from
and as the velocity of the stream, the moment the sluices are
opened, will be greater than that of the original current, only an insignificant portion will sink to the bottom of the canals.
The latter, which
are also to be intersected with sluices, and are carried forward with a
settling
regulated fall, will be subdivided into smaller canals, gradually diminishing in size, and spreading fertility and riches among the Turkomans
Even in flood-time, the top of the dam boing much
far beyond Merv.
above the normal level of the river, only an insignificant quantity of

water will pass over. The lake alone will be considerably swollen, but
without serious consequences, since its waters will be confined between
the hills that border the Murghab both on the right and left, at a distance of several versts, and converge exactly at this spot, leaving only
a narrow passage between, which will be barred by the dam. The
small amount of water that may succeed in escaping over the embankment will fall into the old bed of the river, and be hemmed in between
banks ; so that it will not be able to repeat the serious damage to

the country that was caused by the floods of two years ago (1886),
which all but swept away the new town of Merv, and destroyed at its
outset the excellent handiwork of Alikhanoff. Small dams, made only
its
118
canalisation
is
it
will
in
working order,
subdue to cultivation a
anticipated that
territory of some
it is
200,000 acres, upon which it, is proposed to plant

Russian peasants as colonists in equal number with
the Turkomans.
If
we add
Merv
to this that
is
the
very central point of the trade routes from Bokhara

and the Oxus to Eastern Persia, and from Central
Asia to India through Afghanistan, we can believe
that there yet may rise on the banks of the Murghab
a city worthy of the
When
Turkoman
character
site
and of the name.
Alikhaiioff, in the disguise of a clerk, visited

t
Merv
in 1882, his report to the
Russian Government
contained the following not too flattering account of

his future subjects: 'Besides being cruel, the Merv
Tekkes never keep a promise or an oath

In addition to
their purpose to break it.
if it suits
this
they
are liars and gluttons.
and
finally,
among
They are frightfully envious ;

all the Turkomans there is not a
people so unattractive in every moral respect as the

Tekkes of Merv/ l
may conjecture that this
We
of fascines
and sacks of
slight pressure, will stop
used
be
earth, because they will only

up the old canals which are
have to resist a
no longer to be
whilst all the other constructions, whether dams or sluices, wiU

of concrete, manufactured and cemented on the spot. Two
made
years hence
(i.e.
1800) the whole of this work, in the competent hands
Poklefski, will be completed. Every aoul, every hamlet, every

single proprietor will know exactly the period of the year at which to
The surface of arable land will be multiplied almost
irrigate his fields.
of
The whole country will be covered with marvellous crops

and the market of Merv will be able to send to Russia and the Caucasus
an immense quantity of first-rate cotton, which has cost nothing to
produce, and, being subject to no duty, can be sold at prices of extraordinary cheapness.' The estimated cost of the new dam was 24,000?.
1
The general reputation of the Turkoman as a savage and a bandit
tenfold.
may
be illustrated by
Turkoman proverbs

now
a verdict which he would not
is
119
endorse with-
out qualification and though the broad features of

the national character may remain stereotyped;
though Turkoman morals are indubitably coarse, and

their standards of honesty low, yet later travellers
who have
to
had occasion
resided in their midst, or have
employ
their services,
on
have
testified to the posses-
such as amiability,
frankness, hospitality, and a rough code of honour.
Bonvalot, the French traveller, who was at Merv
sion of
good
qualities
their part,
in 1886, wrote a letter to the Journal
which
lie
said,
The
ties
Debate, in
liussians are of opinion,
and
agree with them, that the Tekkes are worthy people,
very affable and mild, and with a frankness that is

both astonishing and delightful after the rascality of
9
the Persians and the platitudes of the Bokliariots.

Their behaviour is largely dependent upon the handling of the Russians,
successful.
marked
*
of
far
been eminently
the same authority very truly re-
in his latest
work,
'
So long as they can get
The Turkoman neither needs the shade
man/
When
*
As
which has so
the sword has heen drawn,
of a tree nor the protection
who needs another excuse
'
The Turkoman on horseback knows neither father nor mother.'

Where there is a city there are no wolves where there are Turkomans there is no peace.'
The prodigious prestige enjoyed by the Turkoman brigands is amusingly illustrated by the story told by Grodekoft' (chap, i.) of a Persian
who enjoyed a great reputation for bravery, and was attacked in the
night by a Tekke. The Persian, being the stronger of the two, soon
threw his assailant to the ground but just as he was taking out his
What are you
knife to cut the latter's throat, the Tekke called out
The Persian at once
doing ? Do you not see that I am a Tekke ?
lost his presence of mind and dropped the knife, which was seixed by
the Tekke and plunged into his opponent's heart.
Through tfo Heart of Asia to India. By G. Bonvalot.
4
'
'
J20
IX CKXTHAL
/,V,s,s'/J
AMA
wafer, toleration, speedy, stern, and equitable justice,

and have heir taxes levied fairly, the people of Central
I
Asia do not as a rule ask for anything more/
The overwhelming
Kiniiinii
iiu|.iirt..iirf
..iM.iv
strategical importance of
'
Merv
in relation
to India
is
a dielnin which
have never
AKSAKALS, OK ELDEKS OF MEKV.
been able to
iiiulcM-stand.
irreproaehable
is
have seen
it
argued with
lojric, in niajjfaxiiu; articles,
the key to Herat, Herat the
Kandahar the kev
to India.
key
But
to
that
Merv
Kandahar, and
the most scientific
121
demonstrations of a priori reasoning must after all

Russia holds
yield place to experience and to fact.
Merv
and she could to-morrow, if she chose to bring

about a war with England, seize Herat not, however,
;
because she holds Merv, but because she holds the

for more advanced and important positions of Sarakhs
and Penjdeh. 1
But even
if
she held Herat she would
not therefore imperil Kandahar, while even if she

held both Herat and Kandahar, she would not be
nearer the conquest of India. A great deal of
nonsense has been talked in England about these so-
much
and Lord Beaconsiield never
called keys to India,
was laughed
than when he declared
said a truer thing, though at the time

at as a
sounding platitude,
it
that the keys of India are to be found in London,

consist in the spirit
and
and determination of the British
The political benefits to Eussia resulting

people.
from the annexation of Merv were very considerable,
and ought not
to
having an easterly,
fold,
application,
They were
a westerly, and a
be underrated.
threelocal
upon the absorption of

establishing Eussia upon the left
It set the seal
the Khanates,
by
Vide the prophetic opinion of Sir C. MacGregor on the strategical

importance of Sarakhs expressed in 1875 (Life and Opinions, vol. ii.
Placed at the junction of roads of Herat and Meshed by tho
p. 15)
Heri-Rud and Ab-i-Meshed valleys respectively, and at the best entrance to the province of Khorasan from the north, it cannot fail to
exercise a very serious influence on the momentous issue of the RussoTndian Question. This must happen, whether it falls into the hands of
the friends of England or int those of her foes. Whether Russia uses
Sarakhs as a base for offensive measures against Herat, or England as
a defensive outpost to defeat any such operations, that position will be
1
>
And if my feeble voice can effect a warning ere it is

be here raised in thege words *' If England -docs not
"
use Sarakhs for defence, Russia will use it for offence
heard of again.
too late, let
it
'
122
upon the right of Bokhara, and leaving
as well as
that country very much in the position of metal between the hammer and the anvil, to be moulded or
flattened at
Tt
will.
completed the flank circum-
vention of Khorasan, by the erection of a powerful

And
military post on its eastern or Afghan quarter.
finally
rounded
it
off the conquest,
the administration of the
Turkoman
and centralised
oases and deserts,
the bulk of which passed straightway, and the residue

of which will ultimately pass, beneath Russian rule.
Nor is the immediate value of Merv to Eussia by any
means
be despised, both because of its trading

position, and because, being the centre of a large
oasis, it cguld sustain a numerous army at a distance
to
base through one or more winters. These

are advantages on her side which it would be foolish
from
its
to ignore,
Ferment
on the
Afghan
but which
it is still
more
into a real peril to our Indian possessions.

When we reached Merv I had hoped
Alikliaiioff, the celebrated
district,' to
whom
had a
was a ksent, an(l ^ ie

Khan
magnify
to
find
Colonel
frontier
arising out
of the re-
foolish to
ng
rum ours
ascertained
governor of the
letter of introduction.
m ost mysterious
prevailed
as
to
his
conflict-
whereabouts.
afterwards, however, that
suddenly for the
and
But
he had
I
left
frontier with a Eussian battalion
and a squadron of the Turkoman cavalry; and the

fact that a Cossack officer, travelling in our
to rejoin his regiment at
company
Merv, was abruptly ordered
same direction showed that something

I mentioned in
tapis in that quarter.
to follow in the
was on the
my
first
chapter that the revolt of Is-hak
Khan
in
123
Afghanistan had been alleged in St. Petersburg as a

reasonable excuse for the prohibition of our journey
to Transcaspia
and
had been much
reading in the Russian journals,
known, subject
exaggerated and
to
official
which
interested at
are, as is well
the
supervision,
fantastic estimates of
the
most
Afghan
These reports were

leave no doubt, not merely
Pretender's chances of success.
so absurdly biassed as to
that Is-hak Khun had the clandestine
the Russian Government, but that he
sympathy of
was publicly
regarded as the Russian candidate to the Afghan

throne.
Upon arriving at Merv we heard a rumour
that
Abdurrahman was dead, and
had been uniformly
successful,
that Is-hak,
who
was marching upon
This single item of false information will

give some idea of the inferiority under which Russia
seems to labour as compared with ourselves in point
Kabul.
of news from Afghanistan.

Her intelligence cornes
in the main via Balkh and the Oxus to Bokhara, and
appears to be as unreliable as is the news from Bokhara commonly transmitted to the British Govern-
ment through Stamboul. However, this news, false

though it was, had been enough to throw the Russian
and what I aftermilitary authorities into a ferment
;
wards heard
at
Tashkent made
it
clear that there
was
a considerable massing of Russian troops
Afghan
frontier,
upon the
and that a forward movement must
I asked a Russian
even have been contemplated.
diplomatist what excuse his country could possibly
have
even
for interfering in Afghanistan at this juncture,

if
Is-hak
Khan were
successful
and he wisely
124
professed an ignorance on the subject equal to my

own. But the fact remains that the troops were so
moved, and that at Kerki, the Russian frontier station

on the Amu Daria, there was collected at this time a
body of men, enormously in excess of garrison requireIn

ments, and therefore of threatening dimensions.
Tashkent I was informed by an officer that the talk
was all of an invasion of Afghanistan and of war and
;
though
do not desire
to attach
any importance
to
the military gossip of a place where bellicose ideas

have always prevailed, and where there is no lack of
spirits
who
care
little
deal about medals,
about morality, but a great

I must place on record the
still
fact that, in a time of absolute peace
and with no
possible provocation, the Russians considered themselves sufficiently interested in the internal status of
Afghanistan, a country which they have a score of

times declared to be outside the sphere of their legiti-
mate
political interference, to
make
a menacing dis-
Move-
play of military force upon her frontier.

There was not at that time the provocation
is-hak and
the
rahman
by the ferment arising out of his vindictive punishment of the rebels and suspects in Afghan Turkestan,
Amir Abdurrahman
is
since alleged to
which
have given
and which was followed
in February of this year by

on the boundary.
Russian
concentration
larger
In neither case was any legitimate excuse likely to
much
be forthcoming for advance.

stance the success of Is-hak
For in the former
Khan would
in-
not have
justified a violation of the frontier by Russia, any.

more than his defeat was likely to lead to its violation
FROM MERV TO THE OXU8
125
by Afghanistan whilst in the latter, the proceedings

of Abdurrahman, though perhaps well calculated to
;
cause a great local
stir,
admitted of no aggressive
interpretation as regards either Russia or Bokhara,

into whose territories so calculating a ruler was not
in the least likely to rush to his
own
perdition.
Russian movements on both occasions,

trate nothing more, are at least
ing to the anxiety with

frontier,
and
which they
if
they
noteworthy as
The
illus-
testify-
which they regard the Oxus
to the watchful, if not covetous, eye
direct
upon Afghan Turkestan.
Though
the war-cloud has for the present happily rolled by

in that quarter, we must not be surprised if before
horrid shadow reappears. When I afterwards

heard at Tashkent of the collapse of Is-hak, the
long
its
rumour prevailed that he had fled to Bokhara, and

from there had been removed to his old quarters at
Samarkand.
This last report was denied by the
who repudiated any desire to

officials,
countenance the pretender by allowing him an asylum
on Russian soil. A significant commentary on their
Russian
denial
was afforded by
his subsequent retreat at their
invitation to that very spot,
where he now resides
surrounded by a considerable retinue, a tool in the

hands of his hosts, and whom we may expect at any
moment to see re-emerge as a thorn in our side, in
the event either of disaster or of death to Abdurrah-
man Khan.
I subsequently met Colonel Alikhanoff and was
1
i
i
/><
ITT/*
n
n
introduced to him by
Speaking
J General Komaroff.
I
G of
i
the aptitude which Russia has so often displayed for
colonel
Alikhanofl
Governor
fMerv
126
employing
in
her
own
armies those
whom
she has
already vanquished as opponents, the general told me

that AlikhanofTs father, who was now a general, had
himself fought against Eussia in the Caucasian wars.
This provoked the obvious rejoinder, that the way
become a Russian general was clearly to begin

by having been a Russian foe. Of the personality of
Alikhanoff himself I believe that a somewhat mistaken
to
Those who are acimpression exists in England.

with
he
the part that
played in the diploquainted
matic subjugation of Merv between the years 1882
and 1884, to which I have already alluded, or who

have read of his great influence in the Turkoman oasis,
and of
his
Mussulman
religion, are apt to picture to
man
of Oriental habits and appearance.

Alikhanoff is
greater mistake could not be made.
a tall man, with ruddy complexion, light hair, and a
themselves a
prodigious auburn, almost reddish, beard.

of Daghestan by birth, whose real name
A Lesghian
is
Ali
Khan
Avarski, he has all the appearance of having hailed

from the banks of the Tay or the Clyde. He has been
army from early years, and served

under Skobeleff in the Khivan campaign. Already a
in the Eussian
major, he was degraded to the ranks in 1875 because

of a duel with a brother officer, and sorved as a private
in the Russo-Turkish war.
When
the
Turkoman
ex-
went to Asia, reached the

peditions began
highest non-commissioned officer's rank in the same
year, and returned at the close of Skobeleff s campaign
in 1879, he
Promoted a captain after his reconnaissance

of the Merv oasis in 1882, and a major after the annexain 1881.
127
1884, lie is now a full colonel in the

Eussian army, Kachalnik or Governor of the Merv
oasis, Warden of the Marches along the Afghan bortion of
Merv
in
der,
and judge of appeal among the Turkoman
and
at the early
tribes,
age of forty, though reported to be

a dissatisfied man, finds himself the most talked-of
personage in Central Asia.
stands
him
in great stead.
His religion, no doubt,

13ut I do not know what
other special advantages he possesses beyond his

ability
As
own
and courage.
the
central Lpoint
between Turkestan and
Transcaspia and as commanding the Eusso-Afghau

Acfrontier, Merv is an important garrison town.
cording to the latest information, there are stationed

here two battalions of the line, a regiment of Cossacks, a battery of artillery, and a
Here too are always to be found
man
militia,
whom
company of sappers.
some of the Turko-
Eussia, abandoning her old policy
of non-employment of Asiatic troops, has latterly begun

to enlist.
There are at the present moment three
companies, of Turkoman horse, with 100

in each, which were constituted by a formal
sotnias, or
men
authorisation from the Minister of
War
in
February
To this number were added a few Caucasians

who had already served in the Eussian militia on the
1885.
other side of the Caspian, and several Eussian officers.

The Turkomans already enrolled are picked men,
there being great competition to join the force, and
The
the list of candidates is overstocked with names.
more dangerous and turbulent characters were at first

selected, in order to provide them with a legitimate
TheTurko-
man militia
128
outlet for spirits trained in the love of horseflesh and

adventure, but condemned to distasteful idleness since
the abolition of the alarnan or border-raid.
ranks and among the
officers are several
fought against Skoheleff at Geok Tepe.
In the
men who
They learned;
European drill arid discipline very quickly, the move-,

ments being first explained to them in Turki, while the;
commands were subsequently, and are still, given in
Russian.
Their uniform
is
the national khalat, or
and black dressing-gown, with sheepskin bonnet,- a broad sash round the waist, and big
Eussian top-boots. They are armed with the Berdan
striped pink
The pay of the men

and a cavalry sabre.
is 25 roubles (21. 10s.) a month, and of the officers
from 50 to 100 roubles (5t to KM.) but out of this
rifle
sum they
are required to provide their
own
horse,
kit, and keep, the Government supplying them only

with rifle and ammunition. Already they have shown
of what stuff they are made in the affray upon the

Kuslik in 1885, when they charged down with extreme delight upon their hereditary foes, the Afghans,
and did creditable execution.
I subsequently
a small detachment of these troops,
saw
who had been
brought over by Alikhanoff to Baku, to greet the

Emperor, and was struck with their workmanlike
appearance.
1
Possible
the force
Although the force is at present limited to 300,

men, it may be regarded as being reinforced by a>
powerful immobilised reserve. Nearly every Turko.
man who
can afford
it
play the freebooter,
is
keeps a horse, and, unable to

quite ready to turn free lance

at a
moment's
that the
129
General Komaroff assured
notice.
under arms could without
total
me
difficulty
be increased to 8,000, and I afterwards read in the

4
Times that Colonel Alikhanoff told the correspondent
'
of that paper that in twenty-four hours he could

a statement which tallies
raise 6,000 mounted men
with that of the general.
If there
is
tion in these estimates, at least there
famous threat of Skobeleff, who in
explicitness in the
his
memorandum on
*
some exaggerawas no want of
drawn up
the invasion of India,
w ill be
end our duty to

organise masses of Asiatic cavalry and to hurl them
into India as a vanguard, under the banner of blood
in 1877, wrote
It
in the
and rapine, thereby reviving the times of Tamerlane.'

Even if this sanguinary forecast be forgotten, or if it
remain unrealised, there is yet sound policy in this
utilisation of the
Turkoman manhood, inasmuch
as
it
may operate as an antidote to the deteriorating influence of European civilisation, which, entering this
unsophisticated region in
its
own
bringing brandy and vodka in
peculiar guise,
its
train,
is
and
already
beginning to enfeeble the virile type of these former

slave-hunters of the desert.
When
to
General Grodekoff rode from Samarkand
Herat in 1878, he recorded his judgment of the
value of the
Turkoman
horses in these
w ords
If
we conquer Merv, besides imposing a money

contribution, we ought to take from the Tekkes all
ever
their best stallions
and mares.
once cease to be formidable.'

fiscation has wisely
They would then at

For the policy of con-
been substituted that of
utilising
rMJA JX CEXTliAL AS/A
130
the equine resources of the oasis.
open
to question
of the
Turkoman
bo able
to
a week
at.
None
tlie less it is
whether the power and endurance
though they are to

from
miles a day for
to
70
JOO
accomplish
a time, have not been greatly exaggerated.
horses, reputed
have related astonishing stories secondhand of their achievements ; but those who have had
Travellers
actual experience are content with a
more modest
TURKOMAN HOKSEMKN.
tale.
Certainly the long neck, large head, narrow
chest,
and weedy
legs of the
Turkoman horse do not
correspond with European taste
in horseflesh.
English members of
Boundary Commission
A few only were
the Afghan
of them
thought
sfill less
bought
at prices of
IJidgeway,
ment
to
who was
expend
But the
in use.
from
20/. to 25/.
And
Colonel
authorised by the Indian Govern-
oOO/.
upon
first-class
Turkoman
FROM MERV TO THE OXU8

for breeding purposes, did not
stallions
131
draw one
penny upon his credit.

It was with perfect
boasted of the
facility
justice that General
Komaioff
with which Russia succeeds in
enlisting, not only the services, but the loyalty of her

former opponents. The volunteer enrolment of the
Turkoman horse would be a
sufficient proof of this,

been
not
had
already
paralleled in India and elsewhere. But I can give a more striking illustration
it
On my
still.
return to Baku, I saw drawn up on the
landing-stage to greet the Governor-General a number

of gorgeously-clad Turkomans, robed in magnificent
or
velvet
embroidered
khalats,
and
their
breasts
They, too, had come over

the Czar.
At the head of the line
ablaze with decorations.
to be presented to
stood a dignified-looking Turkoman, with an immense
This, the
pair of silver epaulettes on his shoulders.
general told me, was
Makdum
famous Tekke chieftain Nur
Kuli Khan, son of the

Verdi Khan by an Akhal
wife, the hereditary leader of the Vekhil or Eastern
Merv Tekkes, and the chief of the

Akhal Tekkes in Geok Tepe at the time of the siege.
division of the
Reconciled to Russia at an early date, he was taken

to Moscow to attend the coronation of the Czar in
1883, and
is
now
Tejend oasis
1
full
colonel and Governor of the
where but
lately, in the exercise of his
Vide Travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission.

By
P. 457.
1887. Cf. also the remarks of Sir Peter
Lieut. A. C. Yate.
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. SeptemIt is only fair to state that Sir C. MacGregor formed an
opinion when in Khorasan in 1875. Life and Cpinions, vol.
Lnmsden.
ber 1885.
opposite
ii.
p. 10.
K 2
Baku
132
administrative powers, he, a Turkoman and an old

Kussian enemy, arrested a Russian captain serving
command. And yet this was the man who,

in 1881, told Edmund O'Ronovan that it was the intention of himself and his staunch followers to fight
to the last should Merv be invaded by the Russians,
under
his
'
and
if
beaten to retire into Afghanistan.
If not well
they purposed asking an asylum

within the frontiers of British India/ Adjoining him
received
there,
stood his younger brother, Yussuf Khan, son of Nur

Verdi by his famous Merv wife, Gur Jemal, a boy of
fifteen or sixteen at the
time of O'Donovan's
visit,
Maili Khan and Sari

but now a Russian captain
Batir Khan, chiefs of the Sichmaz and Bakshi, two
;
others of the four tribes of
leader of the
Beg
self,
old
Murad Bey,
subdivision of the Toktamish clan,
who conducted O'Donovan

Great Council
Merv
to the final meeting of the
and, mirabile dictu,
Baba Khan him-
son of the old conqueror Koushid Khan, and
hereditary leader of the Toktamish, the one-eyed

Baba, who led the English party at Merv in 1881,
and, in order to demonstrate his allegiance to the

Queen, branded his horses with V.R. reversed and
The three last-named are

imprinted upside down.
now majors in the Russian service. Baba's colleague
of the Triumvirate of 1881, Niaz Khan,
is
also a
Russian officer, but did not appear to be present.

The old Ikhtyar at the date of O'Donovan's arrival,
Kadjar Khan, who led the forlorn anti-Russian movePetersburg. Gur

matron
and
former
the
Jemal,
chieftainess, of
elderly
ment
in
1884,
is
detained in
St.

whom
133
have spoken, and whose potent influence was
diplomatically enlisted by Russia prior to the

annexation of Merv, was also in Baku, waiting to receive the compliments, to which she was unquestion-
so
ably entitled, from the lips of the Emperor. There

were also present the Khans of the Sarik and Salor
Turkomans of Yuletan, Sarakhs, and Penjdeh, and some

imposing Kirghiz notabilities with gorgeous accoutrements and prodigiously high steeple-crowned hats.
The delegation brought with them
rich carpets
collection of wild animals as presents to the
who
in return loaded
them with European
and a
Emperor,
gifts and
arms, and said in the course of his speech that he

hoped to repay their visit at Merv in 1889 or 1890.
I
do not think that any sight could have im-
pressed
me more
profoundly
witli the
completeness of
Russia's conquest, or with her remarkable talents of

fraternisation with the conquered, than the spectacle
men (and among their

who were assembled with
of these
nions
doubtless other
cases
odd compathem, there were
thirty
as
remarkable), only eight

years ago the bitter and determined enemies of Russia
on the battlefield, but now wearing her uniform,
standing high in her service, and crossing to Europe
in order to salute as their sovereign the Great White
Czar.
Skobeleff 's policy of
Hands
all
round,'
when
the fight is over, seems to have been not one whit

less successful than was the ferocious severity of the
preliminary blow.
If other evidence were needed of Russia's triumph,
it
might be found in the walls of the great earthen
134
TIM- ruinr,i
furlruHH of
7,V
,s',S7,l
/.V
CKXTHM. ASIA
of Koiisliid Klian Kala, through which the
forl ivss
Khun Kula
steams
locomotive,
after leaving
immediately
& the
*
forced
Erected in 1881 by
labour,
station at Merv.
8,000 Tekkes being daily

j)i'ise,
its
oii^rif/od
upon the enter-
and disiuaulled ramparts are not

their testimony than was the shattered
unlinisliod
less eloquent in
emlKinknient of Oeok Tope.
and Iwenly
feet at the
Sixty feet at their base,
summit, and from thirty to
^Y >%^^
J
^^'^VVf^/,
"
"
-'"
jl
'
'
'
îV:iK'0^%iVX^j*^
THK FORT OK KOUSHID KHAN KALA.
forty iVet high,
and originally enclosing a space one
and three-quarters of a mile long by three-quarters of

milu broad, these huge clay structures, which were
:i
intended finally and utterly to repel the Muscovite

advance, have never either sheltered besieged or with-
stood besiegers.
Like a great railway embankment
they overtop (he plain, and in their premature decay

monuments of a bloodless victory.
are imposing
The
military and political questions arising out of
FROM
J/A7/T TO
Till':
OXUS
135
Merv have almost tempted me to formy undertaking to make some allusion to the old
the mention of
get
cities
When
that at different times have borne the name.
the train, however, after traversing the oasis
from the modern town, pulls up at the

station of Bairam Ali, in the midst of an absolute
for ten miles
wilderness of crumbling brick and clay, the spectacle

of walls, towers, ramparts, and domes, stretching in
RUINS OF BAIRAM ALL
bewildering confusion to the horizon, reminds us that

we are in the centre of bygone greatness. Here,
within a short distance of each other, and covering
an area of several square miles, in which there is
scarcely a yard without some remains of the past, or
with a single perfect relic, are to be seen the ruins of
at least three cities that
and have
is
died.
the city
now
The
have been born, and flourished,

and easternmost of these
eldest
called Giaour Kala,
and variously
oia
of
cities
Merv
136
attributed
by the
natives, according to the quality of
their erudition, to Zoroaster, or to Iskander, the local
name
for
Alexander the Great.
In these parts any-
thing old, and misty, and uncertain is set down with

1
unfaltering confidence to the Macedonian conqueror.
I
was
told
resident in the country that the
by a long
general knowledge of past history
names
is
limited to three
Alexander, Tamerlane, and Kaufinann; the
Russian Governor-General, as the most recent, being

popularly regarded as the biggest personage of the
Giaour Kala, if it be the city of Alexander, is
three.
the fort said to have been built
by him
on
in B.C. 328,
his return from the campaign in Sogdiana.
It
was
destroyed by the Arabs 1,200 years ago. In its

present state it consists of a great rectangular walled
enclosure with the ruins of a citadel in its north-east
corner.
Next
in age
and
size
comes the
city of the
Alp Arslan, the Great Lion, and of Sultan

Sanjur, so celebrated in chronicles and legends, who
Seljuks, of
twelfth century ruled as lieutenant of the

Klialif in the almost independent kingdom of Kho-
the
in
Pillaged and destroyed with true Mongol

ferocity by the son of Jenghiz Khan about 1220, it
rasan.
now consists
loom
1
the
of a heap of shapeless ruins, above which
still
intact
The ubiquity and
dome and crumbling
vitality of the
walls of the
Alexandrine legend
is
well
illus-
by the story, told by the Hussion traveller Paohino, of an Afghan

whom he met in a train in India in 1875, and who, in reply to the
information that the reigning emperor of Russia was Alexander, or
Dear me was it not he who conIskander, by name, exclaimed
quered India, and of whom a great deal is said in the Scriptures ?
8
This visit of Alexander rests, however, on insufficient authority,
and cannot be accepted as historical.
trated
'

tomb
137
The sepulchre of
of the great Sultan himself.
All ye who
Alp Arslan with its famous inscription
to the
Arslan
exalted
have seen the glory of Alp
heavens, come hither to Merv, and behold it buried in
'
the dust
'
has long disappeared, gravestone as well
as glory having perished in the
conies the Persian city of
same
Bairam
Ali,
ruin.
Thirdly
from which the
on the new railway is named, and which took

its own name from its last defender and Khan, Avlio
perished 100 years ago while resisting the successful
station
assault of
Amir Maasum, otherwise known
as
Begi
Jan or Shah Murad, of Bokhara. This was the final

and last end of a real and visible Merv, which has
since that date been a geographical designation instead
'
l,t
V,
I'
an
WVtU/1
H^
'
"'^
|rv;^^ft/;4;^v'; f \;^,
L
rllfcltv: ^'
TOMB OF SULTAN SANJUR.
of a built town.
Very decrepit and sorrowful looked
these wasting walls of sun-dried clay, these broken
7Ar CE.VTHAL AS/ A
138
arches and tottering towers; but ihov is magnificence

in their
very extent, and a voice in the sorrowful
7l
fr
ft?il
it
U I NED CARAVANSERAI AT BAIRAM ALL
squalor of their ruin.
was the only
visitor
upon them the
Prior to O'Donovan, Abbott
who appears
slightest attention.
to
have bestowed
Excavations have
never yet been properly undertaken on this interesting site, the Bussians appearing to be too much
occupied with the political settlement of the country

to be able to turn a thought to
archaeology or to
research.
Kinotinus
..f
(In-
Hut
if
history
is
of any account, a lucrative
harvest ought here to await the excavator's

spade.
Travelling thus Eastward, and arrested at each
forward step by some relic of a dead civilisation, or

of a glorious but forgotten
past, the imagination of the
European cannot but be impressed with the thought

that lie is mounting the stream of the
ages, and tracing towards its remote source the ancestrv from which
1-30
own
His feet are treading in an

race has sprung.
The
inverse direction the long route of humanity.
his
him onward into new scenes seems

at the same time to carry him backward into antiquity, and with every league that he advances the
mise en seme recedes into a dimmer distance. History
lies outspread before him like the page of a Chinese
manuscript, to decipher which he must begin at the
bottom and work his way upwards to the top.
Wherever he halts, there in a waste of ruin he discovers the flotsam and jetsam of the mighty human
train that hurries
current that rolled
down from
the Central Asian
plateau on to the plains of Europe and the shores

of the Mediterranean. How eloquent is this dried-up
huge water-worn boulders lying as

they were thrown up by the eddies of the vanished
swirl
At last in our time the current would seem
to have turned back upon itself, and man, like water,
is following a law of nature in rising to his original
His face is turned Eastward and he seeks his
level.
river-bed, with
its
primaeval home.
In these solitudes, moreover, the traveller
realise in all its sweep the mingled gloom
may
and
grandeur of Central Asian scenery.
Throughout the
as the natives have some-
night the fire-horse,

times christened it, races onward, panting audibly,
gutturally, and shaking a mane of sparks and smoke.
still
Itself
of
and
life
its
riders are all alone.
greets eye
upon
token or sound
or ear; no outline redeems the
dim horizon no shadows fall

plain. The moon shines with dreary
level sameness of the
the staring
No
;
central
140
coldness from the hollow dome, and a profound and

The
tearful solitude seems to brood over the desert.
returning sunlight scarcely dissipates the impression of

sadness, of desolate and hopeless decay, of a continent
and
life
like a
sunk
The
in a mortal swoon.
wanderer
at night in
traveller feels
some desecrated grave-
yard, amid crumbling tombstones and half-obliterated

mounds. A cemetery, not of hundreds of years but of
thousands, not of families or tribes but of nations and

empires, lies outspread around him and ever and anon,
in falling tower or shattered arch, he stumbles upon
;
The sand-
some poor unearthed skeleton of the past.

The Merv oasis is considered to extend
five miles east
for forty-
from the bank of the Murghab, and for
the greater part of this distance
well worthy of the

cultivation, a richer
is
Here I saw greater

and
a more numerous native population than
growth,
name.
at
any previous stage of the journey.
irrigation-channels
tion of
green.
still
The
ariks or
contained water, the infiltrafor the rich parterres of
which accounted
In and near the ditches grew
tall
plumed
The native huts,
black beehives, showed that
grasses five feet or six feet high.
clustered together like

the Mervi had not under their
new masters
deserted
The men were to be seen everylazily mounted on horses or on
their old habitations.
where
in the fields,
When
the desert reappears, it comes in the

literal sense of the word with a
vengeance. Between
asses.
the oasis and the
Amu
Daria intervene a hundred
miles of the sorriest waste that ever

eye.
met the human
East and west, and north and south, stretches a
141
troubled sea of sand, each billow clearly defined and
were in mid career, like an ocean wave

I never saw anything more melan-
arrested as
it
curving to
fall.
choly than the appearance of this wilderness, and

its sickle-shaped dome-like ridges of driven sand
with smoky summits, sacceeding each other with the

regularity of infantry files. Each has the appearance
of being cloven through the crown, the side facing
towards the north-east, whence the prevailing winds
blow, being uniformly convex and smooth, while the

southern face is vertical and abrupt. From time
immemorial nature's curse has been upon this spot

and successive travellers and historians have testified
;
to the dismal continuity of
From
the
quaint
its
reputation.
Elizabethan
Quintus Curtius, by one
J.
translation
of
Brende (1553), I take
the following passage, descriptive of this very region

between the Murghab and the Oxus
:
The nature
of the soyle of whiche countrey
of sundrye kindes.
Some
place
is
is
plentifull of
divers and
woodo and
and aboundaunte of pleasaunte fruite, the grounde fatte,

Those partes which be
well watered, and full of springes.
most temperate are sowed with corne, and the rest he reBut the greater part of
served for fedying of beastes.
vines,
the countrey is covered over with baraine sandes, and

withered up for want of moisture, nourishing neither man,
nor bringinge forth fruite. But with certaine windes that
come from the Sea
of Ponte
(i.e.
the Caspian) the sand in the
plaines is blowen together in heapes, which seme a farre of

like great hilles, wherby the accustomed wayes be damned,
Therfore such as do
so that no signe of them can appere.
to
observe
the
use
starres in the night
those
passe
plaines
as thei do that sayle the seas,
and by the course of them
ancient*
142
The nightes
direct their journey.
for the
more parte be
brighter than the dayes, wherfore in the daye time the

countrey is wild and impassible, when they can neither finde
any
tracte nor
waye
to
go
nor marke or signe wherby to

If the same
in,
passe, the starres beying bidden by the miste.

winde chaunce to come durying the time that
ying,
it
men
be pass-
overwhelmeth them with sande.
Not less accurate, awl perhaps even more

tic, is
Don
realis-
the narrative of the illustrious Spanish Hidalgo
Oxus sands on
homeward journey from
Timur at Samarkand, wrote
Iluy de Clavijo, who, crossing the
December
10,
1404, on
his
a mission to the Court of

as follows
On
the banks there were groat plains of sand, and the

sand was moved from one part to another by the wind, and
was thrown up in mounds. In this sandy waste there are

great valleys and hills, and the wind blew the sand away
from one hill to another, for it was very light and on the
ground, where the wind had blown away the sand, the marks
of waves were left and men could not keep their eyes on
1
this sand when the sun was shining.
;
Difficulties
railway
This was the most
difficult section
of the line to
no natural vegetation to aid

and
the
the
in fixing
sands,
displacement when gales
blew being tremendous. I have mentioned that the
build, there being next to
Russians are
samouL
now in some places beginning to plant the
This
is
a slight atonement for the foolish

their first arrival, almost
economy which led them, on

to exterminate
it
in several districts for the sake of fuel,
1
Narrative of the Embassy of Euy Gonzalez de Clavijo to UM
Court of Timour at Samarkand, A.D. 1403. Translated by Clements
R. Markham for the Hakhiyt Society, 1859.
FROM MER?
TO THE OX US
143
mistaken policy in the shape of big

stacks of gnarled roots and boughs may still be seen
relic of this
at several of the stations,
which
in this region are
little-
shanties built of a few planks and

I expect that if General
half-buried in the sand
more than rude
Annenkoff begins
to
expend
his credit in this horrible
waste, the major part will be swallowed up before he

emerges on the other side.
a whole day of this desolation, we

again come to cultivated land separated by a line
At
last, after
THE RAILWAY AND THE SANDS.
that might have been drawn by a rule from the Kara

Kum. Passing at a slight distance the town and fort
of Tcharjui, where
which
is
Bokharan
commanded by
territory begins,
and
Beg or native Governor,
railway traverses six miles of orchard and

garden and brings us at length to the source and
giver of this great bounty, the Amu Daria or Oxns
the
There in the moonlight gleamed before us the

broad bosom of the mighty river that from the glaciers
itself.
of the Pamir rolls
its
1,500 miles of current
down
to
The
144
the Aral Sea.
my
ears were continually ringing
the beautiful words of
Matthew Arnold, who alone of
In
English poets has made the great Central Asian river

the theme of his muse, and has realised its extra-
ordinary and mysterious personality. Just as when

upon its sandy marge the hero Eustum bewailed his
dead son, so now before our eyes

the majestic river floated on
and hum of that low land
Ou,t of the mist
Into the frosty twilight, and there
moved
Rejoicing through the hushed Chorasmian waste

Under the solitary moon.
The Gihon of Eden,

land of Ethiopia,'
the
Oxus of
'
that encompasseth the whole
the Vak-shu of Sanskrit literature,
the Greeks, the
Amu Daria,
or Eiver-Sea,
no river, not even the Nile, can claim
of the Tartars
a nobler tradition, or a more illustrious history.

Descending from the hidden Eoof of the world/ its
'
waters
of
tell
of forgotten peoples and whisper secrets

lands.
They are believed to have rocked
unknown
the cradle of our race.
Long
the legendary water-
mark, between Iran and Turan, they have worn a

channel deep into the fate of humanity. World-wide
conqueror^ an Alexander and a Tamerlane, slaked
their horses' thirst in the
Oxus stream
Eastern poets
drank inspiration from its fountains Arab geographers

c
it as
superior in volume, in depth, and in
;
boasted of
breadth to
Width and
all
the rivers of the earth/
Amu
The bed 'of the

which is covered
Daria
i.e.
in time of high water

1
Genesis
ii.
13.
the depression
is here between
145
two and three miles wide though in summer, when

swollen by the melted snows of the Hindu Kush and
;
the Pamir, the inundated surface sometimes extends
In the autumn and winter, when the

waters have shrunk, the channel is confined within
to five miles.
its
true banks, and
is
then from half a mile to a mile
in width, flowing with a rapid current of
most
ir-
regular depth over a shifting and sandy bottom.

When Burnes crossed it at Tcharjui in August 1832,
he found the channel about 050 yards across. At

the time of our visit, in October 1888, the stream was
unusually low, and the main channel was of no greater
dimensions.
Mud-banks, covered with ooze or sand,
showed where the current had only recently subsided.

The great Oxus
Still, however, did it merit the title,
stream, the yellow Oxus.' The colour of the water
'
a very dirty coffee-lmed brown, the facsimile of

that of the Nile but it is extremely healthy and can
be drunk with impunity. I \vas strangely reminded
is
by the appearance of this great river, by the formation

of its bed, by the structure of its banks, and by the
scenery and
landscape
same
011
which they displayed, of many a

the Nile in Upper Egypt.
There is the
life
fringe of intensely fertile soil along
its
shores,
with the same crouching clay-built villages, and even a
Bokharan counterpart to the sakkiyeh and shadoof\

for raising and distributing the life-giving waters of
the stream.
Only on the Oxus there is no cliff* like
the eastern wall of the Nile at Gebel-et-Tayr, and, alas
in this northern latitude there is no belt of coroneted
!
palms.
L
146
General
koT
railway
bridge
crossing the Amu Daria at this

as the most serious difficulty by
The problem of
place was regarded
which General Annenkoff was confronted, and the

bridge by which he solved it, though confessedly only
a temporary structure,
with parental pride.
looked upon by his followers

It is an inelegant structure,
is
wood, which was brought all the

way from Russia, and rests on more than 3,000 piles,
which are driven very close together into the bed
built entirely of
At
the plan was contemplated

of conveying the railway across upon, a kind of
steam feriy worked by a cable which was to be fixed
of the stream.
first
upon a largish island in mid-stream. But this idea

was presently surrendered in favour of the existing
structure, which was designed by M. Daragan and
by a Polish engineer, named Bielinski, for the
very moderate sum of 30,000^., the economy of the
undertaking being its chief recommendation to the
built
constructed in four sections, there

being four branches of the river at this spot, separated
by islands. The united length of the four bridges is
authorities.
It is
over 2,000 yards.
M. Mestcherin
told
me with
pride
main part had been put up in the extraordibrief

period of 103 days. The top of the bridge
narily
is inconsiderably elevated above the river, and the
that the
rails,
though thirty feet above the lowest water, are only

above the level of the highest flood. A small
five feet
plank platform and handrail runs alongside of the

Our train crawled very slowly
single line of rails.
across,
and occupied
As soon
fifteen
as the bridge
minutes in the
was
transit.
finished, the Russians
147
with amazing stupidity did their best to ruin
it
alto-
A
getlier by cutting it in two.
had been so constructed as to swing open and to
admit of a steamboat, which had been built in St^
Petersburg and put together just below, arid in which
it was expected that General liosenbach, who came
down to attend the inaugural function, would make
It did not seem to
a journey up-stream to Kerki.
have occurred to anybody that if the steamer was
.
section in the centre
only intended for up-stream traffic, it might as well

have been pieced together above the bridge as below.
However, when it approached the gap, this was discovered to have been made just too small. Sooner
than disappoint the general, who was kept in ignorance

of what was passing, or confess their blunder, the
Russian engineers sliced another section of the bridge
in two, pulling up two of the main clusters of piles.
The
was that the bridge, frail enough to start

and
its continuity thus cruelly shattered,
with
with,
nearly collapsed altogether and some months were
result
spent in getting
quite
it
anticipated
into
working order again. It was

it would
not survive the
that
unusually high floods of 1888 and no one believes

it can last more than a very few
An even
years.
so
a
to
which
structure
built
prodigious
greater risk,
;
entirely of
fire,
wood
ignited
by
is
by
six fire stations with
lished
on the
have served
its
nature exposed,
is
that of
To meet this danger,

and
hose
have been estabpumps
However, the bridge will already
a falling spark.
top.
purpose, if only in conveying across

the material for the continuation of the railway to
its
its
tempo
rary character
148
Samarkand, and must ultimately be replaced
more
l>y
solid iron fabric, the cost of which, according
to the plan of construction, is variously estimated at

from 250,000*. to 2,000,000*. sterling. There is only
one argument, apart from the cost, against an iron

The Oxus
bridge, which may retard the execution.
is
inclined to shift, not only
channel.
nally
Tcharjui,
upon
now
the western
its
bed, but
six miles inland,
bank of the
river,
its
entire
was
origi-
and there
cannot be a doubt that, whether it be due, as is said,

to a centrifugal force arising from the rotation of the
earth and compelling rivers to impinge upon their
eastern banks, or to other causes, the eastward
movement
of the rivor
still
continues.
It
would
be,
say the least, exasperating to build a big iron

bridge to cross a river, and to find it eventually
Training-walls and a great
straddling over dry land.
to
flotilla
expense would be required to counteract this danger.

Below the present
bridge were to be seen some of
*
the boats belonging to the much-vaunted Oxus flotilla,
so dear to the imagination of Russian Jingoes, as providing a parallel line of advance upon Afghanistan.
resources cannot be described as in a very

forward condition. They consist of five vessels, the
As yet
its
largest of which are
two paddle-steamers of very
light
draught (2* feet when laden), called respectively the

Czar and Czaritsa, of 165 tons each, 150 ft. long and
23 ft. broad, and with engines of 500 horse-power.
The
first
of these
was launched
in
September 1887.
Each of them can carry 300

The
14,000/.
men and 20 officers, and is navigated by 30 men.
cost
was
C!J
g
3
tt
O
W
M
H
fe
O
O
HO
They are reputed
in smooth water.
between
to
be able to do
1(5
miles an hour
For the present one is to ply

Dam and IVlro Alexandrovsk, just
Amu
other up-stream to Kerki, the

military position of Russia on the
the
above Khiva;
most advanced
140 miles from Tcharjui, occupied by agreement with Bokhara, to whom strictly it belongs, in
river,
1887, and garrisoned by Russian troops since.

Kerki is an important place, both commercially, as
May
the
market
for the
Afghan towns of Aiulkui and
THE OXUS FLOTILLA.
Mahnena. and the trading point of transfer between

Turkomania and Afghan Turkestan and strategically,
;
as the point from which, either
by
river or, as
is
more probable, by rail (extended hither along the

bank of the Amu Daria from Tcharjui), a Russian
advance may ultimately bo expected upon Northern
Hitherto the difficulties of navigation,
arising partly from the swiftness of current, which
impedes any but powerful steamers, partly from the
Afghanistan.
shallow
and
.shifting
channel
which
renders
the
150
employment of such almost impossible, have had a

and it was only after many
disheartening effect
vicissitudes that the first effort to reach Kerki was
;
accomplished. Since that time, however, and in the

spring of the present year, General liosenbach has
made the passage to Kerki in the Czar. In the rest
of the
flotilla
are included
capable of carrying 1,000
two large
men
floats or barges,
apiece,
which would
These barges draw
require to be towed up-stream.

a maximum of 2 feet of water, will carry a cargo of
100 tons, and cost 5,0002. apiece. It is evident from
these details that the
Oxus
flotilla,
whose strength has
been exaggerated in this country, is still in its infancy

and that, to whatever dimensions it may swell in the
;
cannot at present be looked upon as contributing much to the offensive strength of Russia in
future,
it
Central Asia.
151
CHAPTER VI
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
Quant
il
orent passe" eel desert,
Bocara, moult noble
et grant.
si
vindrent i une cit
Continuation of the railway to Bokhara
Approach
to the city
qui rst
MARCO POLO.
Scenery of the Khanate
Attitude of the Bokhariots towards the
railway New Russian town Political condition of the Khanate

Accession of the reigning Amir Seid Abdul Ahad Abolition
of slavery Novel security of access History of Bokhara Previous English visitors to Bokhara Road from the station to the
city
The Russian Embassy
Native population
Foreign
ele-
ments An industrial people Bokharan women Religious buildings and practice The Great Minaret Criminals hurled from
the summit Assassination of the Divan Begi Torture of the
murderer Interior of the city The Righistan The Citadel and
State prison The Great Bazaar Curiosities and manufactures
Brass and copper ware Barter and currency Russian monopoly of import trade from Europe Russian firms in the city
Statistics of trade
Effects of the railway.
sale of liquor- -Mussulman inebriety
Regtrictions on the
Survival of ancient cus-
toms Dr. Heyfelder The reahta or guineaworm of Bokhara

Bokharan army Native Court and ceremonial Tendency tc
incorporation
Transitional epoch at Bokhara.
OBSERVED in the
last
chapter that, upon arriving at
Tcharjui, we had passed from Eussianon

territory.
The
distinction
artificial one, for
though
it
is
to
Bokharau
of course a somewhat
rests
upon
treaty stipula-
tions, yet Bussia can do in Bokhara what she pleases,

and when she humours the pretensions of Bokharan
railway to
152
autonomy, only does so because, being all-powerful, she

can afford to be lenient.
The pretence of independence was, however, kept up, so far as the construction of the railway through the territory of the
Amir
was concerned the strip of country traversed by the

line and the ground occupied by the station buildings
being in some cases presented gratis by the good-will
of the Amir, but in the majority of instances bought
either from him or from the local proprietors of the
At
soil.
that
time Russian influence and credit
do not appear to have been quite as omnipotent in

Bokhara as they now are for the Oriental landlords,
;
with characteristic caution, turned up their noses at

the paper rouble, and insisted
upon being paid
in
which had
to be bought for the purpose in

and
transported all the way to Central
Hamburg,
I do not know whether the hypothesis of a
Asia.
silver,
similar transaction
may be
held to have explained
the big padlocked bags, strongly guarded

and evidently containing bullion, that I
from our steamer

enery
the
at
As we advanced
by soldiers,
saw landed
Uzun Ada.
further into the Khanate, a
new
countiy spread before us. It displayed the exuberant

richness, not merely of an oasis or reclaimed desert,
but of a region long and habitually fertile. Great

clumps of timber afforded a spectacle unseen since
and large walled enclosures, overtopped

with fruit-trees, marked the country residences of
the Caucasus
was of this neighbourhood

that Ibn Haukal, the Arab traveller, wrote as long
Bokharan
squires.
It
ago as the tenth century
*
:
In
all
the regions of
g
8
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
153
not a more flourishing or a more

delightful country than this, especially the district of
Bokhara.
If a person stand on the Kohendiz (i.e.
the earth there
is
the Castle) of Bokhara, and cast his eyes around,

he shall not see anything but beautiful green and
luxuriant verdure on every side so that he would

imagine the green of the earth and the azure of the
;
heavens were united.
And
as there are green fields
every quarter, so there are villas interspersed
in
the green fields.

And in all Khorasan and
Maweralnahr there are not any people more long-
among
lived than those of
Bokhara/
At Kara
Kill,
where
the last surviving waters of the Zcrafshan find their

home in three small lakes, we reached the district so
famous
for its black,
Asiatic equivalent
tightly curled lambskins, the
and superior
to
what
in
Europe we
At
the same time, curiously

enough, the huge sheepskin bonnets, with which the
Turkomans had rendered us familiar, disappeared in
denominate Astrakhan.
favour of the capacious white turban of the Uzbeg or

the Tajik.
Early in the afternoon (we had left Amu
Daria at 7 A.M.) there appeared over the trees on the

graceful minaret, and the spheriwere in sight of
cal outline of two large domes.
north of the line a
tall,
We
Bokhara Es
Sherif, or the Noble, at the present juncture the most interesting and intact city of the East.
Skirting the city, from which we cannot at one moment

have been more than four miles distant, and seeming
to leave it behind, we stopped at the new Russian
The Oriental Geography of
William Ouseley, Knt. 1800.
1
Ibrt
Haukal.
Translated by Sir
Approach
RU8MA IX CENTRAL
154
ASIA
station of Bokhara, situated nearly ten miles from
its
gates.
Upon
inquiry I found that the station had been
Jokhanots
very deliberately planted on
te railway
consisting of representatives of the Russian and

Bokharan Governments and of merchants of both
had met
nationalities,
to investigate
the question of locality.
were
this site.
Some
committee,
and determine
of the native merchants
in favour of a site nearer the town,
though the
gener al attitude of the Bokhariots towards the railway
was then one of
suspicion.
It
was regarded as
subversive, anti-national, and even Satanic.
foreign,
Shaitan's
Arba, or the Devil's Wagon, was what they called it.

Accordingly it was stipulated that the line should as
far as possible avoid the cultivated land,
and should
pass at a distance of ten miles from the native city.

This suggestion the Russians were not averse to
adopting, as it supplied them with an excuse for
building a rival Russian town around the station
buildings,
and
for
establishing
cantonment of
troops to protect the latter, a step which might have

been fraught with danger in the nearer neighbourhood of the capital. Now, however, the Bokhariots
much
same regrets as the wealthy

English landowners who, when the railway was first
are victims to
the
introduced in this country, opposed at any cost

passage through
their property.
Already when
its
the
working train steamed into Bokhara with rolling

stock and material for the continuation of the line,
first
the natives
crowded down
fear, half in surprise,
jumped
to
see
it,
into the
and half
in
empty wagons.
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
155
As
Presently apprehension gave way to ecstasy.
soon as the line was in working order they would
crowd into the open cars in hundreds, waiting for
hours in sunshine, rain, or storm, for the engine to
I found the third-class
puff and the train to move.
carriages reserved for
Mussulman passengers crammed
to suffocation, just as they are in India; the infantile
mind of the Oriental deriving an endless delight from

an excitement which he makes not the slightest
So great is the business
in
that
station,
September last General
Annenkoff told a correspondent that since July the
effort to
analyse or to solve.
now done at the
daily receipts from passenger and goods traffic combined had amounted to more than 300/. Etiquette
prevents the
Amir himself from
travelling
by a method
so repugnant to Oriental tradition but he exhibits

all the interest of reluctant ignorance, and seldom
;
interviews
Russian without enquiring about
its
progress.
In a short time the
have spoken
new Russian town
will start into being.
of which I New
Plots of land ad-
joining the railway have been eagerly bought up
by
commercial companies, who will transfer their headAn imposing

quarters hither from the native city.
station building had,
when
I visited
it,
risen to the
height of two courses of stone above the ground.

Barracks are to be built streets will be laid out a
;
Residency
1
Von
1888.
Vide
'
will receive the
Russian diplomatic Agent
Buchara nach und vor der transkaspischen Eisenbahn
Staatstrath Dr. 0. Heyfelder.
'
Unsere Zeit, Leipzig, October
RUB-
156
to the Amir,
who now
tations arising
from the
lives in the capital
under
limi-
from his restricted surroundings, and
fact that according to
Bokharan
etiquette
city, himself
stranger
included, becomes ipso facto a guest of the Amir, and
the
in
every distinguished
In another
supplied with board and lodging.
decade the new Bokhara will have attracted to itself
is
much
of the importance of the ancient city, arid

with its rise and growth the prestige of the latter must
Thus, by a seeming concession to

native sentiment, the Eussians are in reality playing
inevitably decline.
their
Political
condition
of the
own game.
Before I describe
my
visit to the
old Bokhara, I
propose to append some observations upon the present

political condition of the Khanate, a subject about
which very scant and imperfect information appears

ever to percolate to England.
The
existing
relations
between
Russia
and
Bokhara are defined by the two treaties of 18G8 and

1873, both of which were concluded between Kauf1
mann, on behalf of the Imperial Government, and
Amir
the late
Mozaffur-ed-din.
These
treaties
left
Bokhara, already shorn of Samarkand and the beauprovince of Zerafshan, in a position of qualified
independence, the privileges of a court and native
tiful
government being conceded in return for the surrender

of the waterway of the Oxus, and of certain com-
manding
fortified
positions, to Eussia.
So
closely,
however, were the Russian toils cast round the

Khanate that these conditions were generally recog1
For a translation of this
treaty, vide
Appendix V.
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
157
nised as involving ultimate absorption and there was

scarcely a single English writer who did not confi;
dently predict that the death of the then Amir would

Sir
infallibly be succeeded by total annexation.
Henry Rawlinson^ by far the greatest English authority

on Central Asia, expressed the following opinion
an essay entitled
Question/ written in December 1874):

there
is
(in
Later Phases of the Central Asian

'
As soon
as
rapid and direct communication between the
Caucasus and Turkestan, a Russian Governor-General

will take the place of the Amir, and then, if we may
judge by our own Afghan experience, the Russian

difficulties will commence.'
Mozaflur-cd-din has since
died,
and Turkestan
rapid
and
direct
is
of
linked by a railway
all
communications
the most
to
the
Caspian, and yet there is now, and is likely for some

time to continue, an Amir of Bokhara. Russia has
in fact played the part of sacrificing the shadow for
the sake of the substance, and of tightening the iron
grip beneath the velvet glove, with such adroitness

and success that she can well afford for a time to leave
the Khanate of Bokhara alone, with
and expense of annexation, and
all
the trouble
to tolerate a semi-
independent Amir with as much complacency as we

do a Khan of Khelat or a Maharajah of Kashmir.
The analogy to Afghanistan is a faulty one, for the
Bokhariots are not a turbulent or a fanatical people
and, though composed of several nationalities, present

a fairly homogeneous whole.
The
late
Amir,
who was
a capable man, though a
debauchee, died in 1885, leaving several sons.
The
158
-
he
nin
ir
complete ascendency of Eussia was well illustrated*

by the events that ensued. Mozaffur had solicited,
the recognition as his heir of his fourth son, Seid
Abdul Ahad, although the offspring of a slave and

this preference had been diplomatically humoured by
;
who sent the young man to

(where now also they are educating
the Eussian Government,

St.
Petersburg
his
younger brother) and
to
Moscow,
imbibe
to
Eussian tastes and to be dazzled by the coronation of

the Czar.
In Eastern countries it is of the highest
importance, immediately upon the occurrence of a
vacancy to the throne, to have an official candidate
forthcoming $nd to strike the first blow a cardinal

which Great Britain has uniformly
At the
neglected in her relations with Afghanistan.
rule of action
time of his father's death Abdul
Ahad was Beg
of
Kermineh, a position which he held, even as a boy,

during Schuyler's visit in 1873. The death of the
old Amir was concealed for twelve hours special
;
gallop for Kermineh ; the palace

and troops were assured by the loyalty of the KushBegi or Grand Vizier, who marched out of the town
messengers
left at full
to receive the
new Amir.
Mozaffur leaked out the
As soon as the death of

rumour was spread that
a Eussian general and army were advancing upon

Bokhara ;* and when Abdul Ahad appeared, attended
by General Annenkoff, whose presence in the vicinity

had been judiciously turned to account, he entered
into the inheritance of his fathers without difficulty
'
and without
striking a blow.
His eldest brother, Abdul Melik,
who
rebelled
RUSH BEGI AND AMIR OF BOKHARA
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
159
against his father eighteen years ago, has for some

time been a fugitive in India, and is detained by the
Government at Abbotabad. Another elder

brother, who was Beg of Hissar at the time of his
British
brother's
rebellion,
Baisun. 1
accession,
who
and
also
contemplated
was quietly removed as a State prisoner to

A third, who was similarly implicated, was
deprived of his Begship of Tchiraktclii and incarcerated in the capital. 2 The opposition, if it exists,
has not dared to
Seid Abdul
lift its
Ahad
is
head
a young
or twenty-nine years of age,

dignified
in
since.
appearance.
man
tall,
of twenty-eight
black-bearded, and
saw him
at
Bokhara.
Clad in magnificent robes, and riding at the head of

a long cavalcade through the bazaar, he looked
worthy
known
to
be an Oriental monarch.
Little is publicly
of his character, which T heard variously de-
scribed as inoffensive and avaricious.
among
those
who know him
to
be
He
is
intelligent,
reputed
and
to
own independence.
how far he is popular
understand the exact limits of his
almost impossible to tell

with his subjects, Oriental respect for the
It
is
weighing
all
title
out-
considerations of the personality of
its
Moreover, espionage is understood here, as

elsewhere in the East, to play a prominent part in
native regime, and disloyalty is too dangerous to be
bearer.
common.
still
he can persuade his people that he is

something more than a gilded marionette, as the
If
For an account of this incident, vide M. Bonvalot's new work,

the Heart of Asia, 1889, vol. i. pp. 280-1 vol. ii. p. 28.
Through
2
Ibid. vol.
ii.
p. 23.
Seia Abdul
160
Russians are politic enougli to allow him to do, and if at

the same time he tacitly takes his orders from Tashkent,
there
no reason why he should not retain his crown.
is
The Russians take great credit to themselves for

j iay j n
g p crsua(| e d the young sovereign to issue a
decree, signed November 19, 188G, totally abolishing
Abolition
o savory
and giving to each

slavery in the State of .Bokhara,
man a written certificate of his freedom a step
which would hardly have been necessary

XVII. of the Treaty of 1873 had been at all
if
Clause
faithfully
carried out.
The
traffic in
which commands
human beings, being contrary to the law

man to love his neighbour, is abolished for
In accordance with
ever in the territory of the Khanate.
shall
be given by the
strictest
the
resolve,
injunctions
Amir to all his Begs to enforce the new law, and special
this
orders shall be sent to
all
border towns where slaves are trans-
should any
ported for sale from neighbouring countries, that
be
taken
from their
shall
such slaves be brought there, they
owners and
The
set
at.
liberty without loss of time.
relations
between the two courts are in the
capable hands of M. Tcharikoff, a most accomplished
man, speaking English

early
fluently
Edinburgh education
the result of an
and a thorough master
of Oriental politics.
I*
Novel
f
was
wftli
no small astonishment that I found
myself in the agreeable company of Dr. Ileyfelder, approaching without let or hindrance the to English-
men
almost
unknown
city of
Bokhara.
'
remembered
'
having read in a notice in the Westminster Eeview

of Vambery's Travels' the words written only thirteen
'
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

6
years ago,
161
The very names of Khiva, Bokhara, and
Samarkand are so associated with danger and difficulty

that no European who is not prepared to take his
life in
Tiflis
his
hand can venture
to visit them.'
Even
at
but a few weeks before, M. Henri Moser, the
Swiss traveller,
who
ago visited Central Asia,

and in 1886 published a most vivid and admirable
account of his travels, entitled A travers 1'Asie
six years
<
Centrale/ had warned
me
to
be careful of the
fanati-
cism of Bokhara, and had expressed a doubt as to

whether a foreigner could obtain permission to enter
When he was there in 1883 himself, though

the city.
in the company of a special envoy from the Czar, he
remained a virtual prisoner indoors for three weeks,
and was only once allowed to make an excursion
remembered having read

already quoted, by Sir H. liawlinson,
through the town.

in the essay,
I also
No one
questions but that the general feeling at

Bokhara is intensely hostile to Russia, and that the
c
Amir has had and
still
preventing his subjects
has the utmost difficulty in
from breaking out and declar-
ing a holy war against the infidels/ And yet here

I, a stranger, and not even a Russian, approach-
was
ing in absolute security this so-called haunt of bigotry,

and about to spend several days in leisurely observa-
and people.
Identified by some writers with the Bazaria of
Quintus Curtius, where in the winter of B.C. 328, in
tion of
its life
the royal Chace or Paradise that had not been disturbed for four generations, Alexander the Great and
his officers slew 4,000 animals,
and where Alexander
History of
162
himself overcame a lion in single combat, extorting

from the Spartan envoy the exclamation, ' Well done,
Alexander, nobly hast thou won the prize of kingship

from the king of the woods!
generally derived from
'
the Sanskrit
name Vihara, or a
college of wise
men,
associated in local legend with the mythical hero

there is little doubt that Bokhara is one of
Afrasiab
the most ancient cities in the East.
700
into the light of history about
Since
it
emerged
has been
A.D., it
alternately the spoil of the most famous conquerors

and the capital of the greatest kings. Under the
who
Iranian Samanid dynasty,

till
1000
A.D., it
was regarded
as the pride of Asia.

sities,
where
the
pilgrims crowded
ruled for 130 years
as a pillar of Islam
Students flocked to
its
and
univer-
most learned mullahs lectured

its
A proverb said,
shrines.
In
all
other parts of the world light descends upon earth,

from holy Bokhara it ascends/ Well-built canals
carried streams of water through the city
fruit-trees cast
a shadow in
spun the finest silk in Asia
its
silkworms
gardens
warehouses overflowed
;
its
luxuriant
its
the commerce of the East

in its caravanserais
hands
and
met
West
and
changed
with carpets and brocades
and the
fluctuations
of
its
market determined the
exchange of the East. The Samanids were succeeded

by the Turki Seljuks and the princes of Kharezm;
and then,
like a
storm from the desert, there swept
down upon Bokhara

engulfing
all
the pitiless fury of the Mongol,
in a like cataclysm of ruin.
Jagatai
and Oktai, sons of Jenghiz Khan, made some amends,

bv beneficent and merciful rule, for the atrocities of
100
their father
and
it
was about
this time that the elder
brothers Polo, making their first voyage to the East,

'
si vindrent & une cite qui est appelee Bocara, moult
noble et grant.'
change of ownership occurred
when about 1400 the great conqueror Timur great,

whether we regard him as savage, as soldier, or as
overran the East, and established a Tartar
dynasty that lasted a hundred years a period which
has been termed the Bokharan Eenaissance. Another
statesman
wave of conquest,
the
bringing to
the
Uzbeg
Tartars, ensued, again

names that of
surface two great
Sheibani Mehemmed Khan, who overthrew the Timurid

sovereigns and established an ethnical ascendency that
and Abdullah Khan, the
has lasted ever since
;
national hero of Bokhara, which

tastes
much
endowed
of
its later
colleges and
owed
to his liberal
architectural glory, its richly

material prosperity.
Sub-
its
sequent dynasties, exhibiting a sorrowful record of

incapacity, fanaticism, and decay, witnessed the
gradual contraction of the once mighty empire of

Transoxiana into a petty khanate. It is true that
Bokhara
still
refers with pride to the rule of
Amir
Maasum, founder of
the present or Manghit reigning

but a bigoted devotee, wearing the
family in 1784
dress and imitating the
;
substitute for
was a poor
the mighty sovereigns of the past.
The
life
of a dervish,
dissolution of the times, yearly sinking into a deeper
slough of vice, venality, and superstition, was fitly expressed in the character and reign of his grandson,
the infamous
Mozaffur-ed-din
Nasrullah
(1826-1860), whose son,
(1860-1885), successively the

312
foe,
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL
164
AM A
X
the ally, and the puppet of Russia, has left to his

heir, the reigning Amir, a capital still breathing some
aroma of its ancient glory, but a power whose wings
have been ruthlessly clipped, and a kingdom indebted

for a nominal independence to the calculating prudence
Previous
rather than to the generosity of Russia.

Enlish imaination has for centuries been stirred
visitors to
by
Bokhara
..
PT^ll
the romantic associations ot JJokliara. but
have rarely penetrated to the spot. The first

who reached its walls was the enterprising mer-
visitors
chant Master Anthony Jenkinson, who was despatched

on several adventurous expeditions to the East be-
tween 1557 and 1572, acting in the double capacity

of ambassador to Queen Elizabeth and agent to the
Muscovy Trading Company, which had been formed

He stayed two
to open up the trade with the East.
and a half months in the city in the winter of 155859, being treated with
much
consideration
by the
sovereign, Abdullah Khan and has left a record of

his journey and residence in Bokhara, the facts of
which display a minute correspondence (at which no
;
one acquainted with the magnificent immobility of

the East would express surprise) with the customs
1
In the eighteenth century

and manners of to-day.
Colonel Garber
the record was limited to two names
in 1732,
and Mr. George Thompson in 1741
2
.
In this
1
Early Voyages in Russia and Persia. By Anthony Jenkinson
and other Englishmen. Edited for the Hakluyt Society by E. D.
Morgan, 1886.
Vide Professor Grigorieff's criticism of Varabe'ry's History of
Bokhara^ in the Appendix to Schuyler's Titrkistan, vol. i. I can
ascertain nothing about Col. Garber (or Harber) beyond the mention
of his nauio. Professor Grigorieff was mistaken in coupling the name
BOKHARA
Tin:
NOBLK
ics
century William Moorcroft and George Trebeck, at

the end of six years' wanderings from India, through
Kashmir,
Afghanistan,
and
Turkestan,
reached
Bokhara on February 25, 1825'; leaving the city five

months later only to die, the one at Andkui, the other
1
In 1832 Lieutenant, afterwards
at Mazar-i-Sherif.
Alexander Burnes, succeeded in reaching Bokhara
also from India, in company with Dr. James Gerard,
Sir
and
in concluding a treaty of
Amir.
commerce with the
1842 came the horrible tragedy

Then
has inscribed the names of Stoddart and
in
which
Conolly in the martyrology of English pioneers in

the East.
Sent in 1838 and 1840 upon a mission
of diplomatic negotiation to the khanates of Central
Asia, whose sympathies Great Britain desired to enlist
consequence of her advance into Afghanistan, they

were thrown by the monster Nasrullah into a foul
in
subterranean
pit,
infested
with vermin, were sub-
jected to abominable torture, and finally were publicly

beheaded in 1842. Dr. Wolff, the missionary, travelling to
Bokhara
in 1843, in order to clear
up
their
Hogg with that of Thompson. The two travelled together

Khiva (via Samara and the Aral Sea) but while Thompson
pushed on to Bokhara, Hogg remained behind, and with great difficulty,
being plundered in the steppe, escaped at length to Orenburg. Vide
An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea.
By Jonas Hanway, merchant, 1753, vol. i. pp. 345- 52.
1
Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, <&c. By Mr. William
Moorcroft and Mr. George Trebeck, from 1819 to 1825. 2 vpls. 1841.
of Reynold
as far as
editor, who published these travels fifteen years after the authors'
death, omitted any account of Moorcroft's stay at Bokhara, both
because the latter's notes were very desultory and imperfect, and
The
because Burnes had published his work in the interim.

*
Travel* into Bokhara. By Lieut. Alexander Burnes.
1835.
Burnes' account of Bokhara
is still
8 vols.
one of the best extant.
160
fate,
ran
many
but at length escaped with his
risks,
For forty years, however, owing partly to the

terror inspired by this disaster and to the perils of
life.
the journey, partly to the increasing influence of

Russia, who did not encourage English intruders upon
her new preserves, not a single Englishman set foot

A deep mystery overhung the place
in Bokhara.
like a cloud, from which occasionally peeped the
glint of Russian arms, or
rang the voice of Russian

thrown upon the pre-
A flash of light was
cannon.
vailing darkness about half-way through this period
by the heroic voyage of the Hungarian Vamb^ry,

who penetrated to Bokhara in the garb of a mendicant dervish in 18G3, and whose work, being published in English, awoke a profound sensation in this
1
country.
visited
In 1873, Dr. Schuyler,
the
American,
Bokhara under Russian patronage,
in his tour
through the Czar's dominions in Central Asia, and

wrote a work which may be described as monumental,
a classic on the subject. 2 Dr. Lansdell,
the so-called missionary, was the next English visitor
I do not know of any others
after Wolff, in 1882.
and
is still
who have
obtained leave to go
since the Transcaspian Railway
was made, and whose
till
the small batch
experience
it is
my
object to relate.
Upon our arrival at the station

to the city
we committed
drawn by a troika, or team of

three horses abreast, which had been sent down from
the Russian Embassy in the city to meet us, and
ourselves to a caleche
Travels in Central Asia.

Turkintan.
By Eugene
By Arminius
Schuyler.
Vambe'ry.
vols.
1870.
1864.
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

started for the capital.
But
for this
we might have been compelled

either
on donkey-back or
in
167
to
good fortune
make
the journey
one of the huge wooden
of the country called arias, the

springless
wheels of which are from eight to ten feet high, and
carts
on whose elevated floor the natives squat contentedly,

while the driver, usually seated on a saddle on the
horse's back, urges the vehicle in the
manner over
inequalities that
most casual
would upset any

to
less
be the
clumsy construction. Donkeys appeared

most popular method of locomotion, it being con-
Two
sidered undignified in that country to walk.
and even three men sit astride of the same diminutive animal, dan'gling their legs to the
bearded veteran, with his knees
ground
or a
up to his chin
would be seen
tilted
the ridiculously short stirrups,

perched upon a heap of saddle-bags, with a blue bale
by
reared up behind him, which closer inspection revealed to be a daughter or a wife. Blinding clouds
of dust, stirred by the great
traffic,
rolled along the
which lay between orchards of mulberries,

peaches, figs, and vines, or between fields in which
road,
the second grain crop of the year was already springing, or where hundreds of ripe melons littered the
ground. We passed through several villages of low

clay houses where dusty trees overhung the dry
watercourses and thirsty camels stood about the
summer
palace of the Amir surrounded by a mighty wall of sun-dried clay, and at

length saw drawn out in a long line before us the
wells,
lofty
skirted a
ramparts of the
city,
with buttresses and towers,
168
eight miles round, and pierced
by eleven
gates, open
from sunrise to sunset, but hermetically closed at
that hour aainst either exit or entrance till the
morrow. 1
Tho
Embury
Entering by one of these, the Sallia Khaneh, we

made our way for over two miles through a bewildering labyrinth of streets and alleys to the Eussian
uATK AND WALL OF BOKHARA.
Embassy, situated near the Ughlan Gate, at the far

end of the city. This is a large native house with
an extensive
garden surrounded by a clay wall,

by the Amir, who
had confiscated it from its former owner, both for
which was
fruit
lent to the Eussians
plan of Bokhara, as also of Samarkand,
is
given in the Russian
original, but not, unfortunately, in the English translation, of

koff's work.
.
Khani-
BOKHARA
their
of
TILE XOIiLK
own accommodation and
all
distinguished guests.
161)
for the entertainment
The
servants, horses,
grocery, and food are supplied
whose
officers, called the
by the Amir, one of

Mirakhur (literally Amir
Akhor, i.e. Master of the Horse), lives in the outer

court, and sits for the most part of the day smoking
a pipe and tranquilly surveying operations.
In one
court are picketed the horses of the Eussian guard,
RUSSIAN EMBASSY AT BOKHARA.
consisting of twenty Cossacks of the Ural.
In the
guest-chambers, whose furniture

consists of a carpet, a rope bedstead, and a table
next are several
and
in a third are the offices
the Embassy,
ness
and
in
and reception-rooms of
on a scale of similar unpretentiouspure native style. On our table was

all
spread every morning a dastarkhan (literally tablenapkin) or collation of sugarplums, dried raisins,
sweetmeats, and little cakes, together with a huge
170
flat
slab of
brown bread
of the Amir.
dainties,
We
never
the traditional hospitality
knew what
to
do with these
which were not altogether
and the various
to English taste,
with
their
became
contents
plates
Washing was rather a

only jug known to the natives
quite a nuisance.
difficulty,
because the
is
a brass
ewer, which holds about as much as a teapot and

the only basin a receptacle with a small bowl in the
;
middle of a large brim, the idea being that it is

water to be poured over the hands to
sufficient for
ensure ablution.
indiarubber bath.
I created a great sensation with
an
Every morning the attendants
brought in the provisions of the day for the entire

household, consisting of mutton, chickens, and fruit
;
but the uncertain arrival and
quantity of these
rendered the hour of meals rather precarious.
We
were most hospitably welcomed
by
the
Eussian
M. Tcharikoff, the
attach^ who,
He seemed
Eesident, was acting as charge d'affaires.
to be overwhelmed with business, and deputations of
in the absence of
the Amir's ministers, and other gorgeously robed

If
officials were coming in and out the entire day.
we
our way in the town, which it was almost

impossible not to do, we had only to mention
lost
name of the Embassy, to be at once

shown the direction. I remember that as we reached
our destination the sun was sinking. As its last rays
lit up the horizon and threw the outline of dome and
Eltchikhaneh, the
tower into picturesque relief, there rang through the

cool calm air a chorus of piercing cries. The muezzins from a hundred minarets were calling the people
BOKHARA THK NOBLE
171
Namaz, or evening prayer. In Bokhara, where

the Mussulmans affect to be great purists, the Ezan,
to the
as
it is
called,
is
recited instead of chanted, the latter
being thought a heterodox corruption. For a minute

or two the air is a Babel of sound. Then all sinks
At night
into silence and the shadows descend.
the only sound is the melancholy beat of the watchman's drum as he patrols the streets with a lantern,
no one being suffered abroad at that hour.
Bokhara
numbers aphundred
thousand
Of these
one
souls.
proximately
only one hundred and fifty are Europeans, nearly all
is
still
a great city, for
of them Eussians, Germans, or Poles.
it
The bulk of the
native population are Tajiks, the aboriginal Iranian
who may
generally be distinguished from their

Tartar brethren by the clearness and often by the
stock,
brightness of their complexions, by the light colour

of their hair and beards, sometimes a chestnut or
reddish-brown, and by their more refined features.

Tajik and Uzbeg alike are a handsome race, and a
urban population I never saw than in the

streets and bazaars of the town.
Every man grows
a beard and wears an abundant white turban, constatelier
sisting in the case of the
orthodox of forty
folds,
and
a long robe or khalat of striped cotton, or radiant

Bokhara has
silk, or parti-coloured cotton and silk.
in
fashion
Asia
in
the
the
Central
matter of
set
long
dress,
Here
the great clothes mart of the East.

the richness of Oriental fancy has expressed
and
itself in
colour.
is
the most daring but artistic combinations of

The brightest crimson and blue and purple
Native
population
172
and orange are juxtaposed or interlaced and in

Bokhara Joseph would have been looked upon as the
;
no peculiar favour in the gift of a coat

of many colours.
Too often there is the most glaring contrast between the splendour of the exterior
recipient of
and the poverty that
it
are wretchedly poor
covers.
Many of the people
but living is absurdly cheap,
and your pauper, undaunted by material woes,
walks abroad with the dignity of a patriarch and in
the garl) of a prince.
Foreign elements are mingled in great numbers
Foreign
Slavery brought the Persians in

old days to the Bokharan market, and has bequeathed
to freedom their children and grandchildren.
Usury
in the population.
brings the Hindus or Multani, as they are called,

from a prevalent idea that Multan is the capital of
With
dark complexions and lank black

locks, with their tight dress and red caste marks on
the forehead, 1 they are an unmistakable lot.
Living
India.
their
in caravanserais without wives or families they lead
an unsocial existence and return
to their country as
soon as they have made their fortune.
Neighbour-
hood brings the Kirghiz, the Turkomans, and the

Business brings to Bokhara, as it has
Afghans.
taken all over the world, the Jews, who are here a
singularly handsome people of mild feature and
benign aspect.
Confined to an Oriental ghetto and
for long cruelly persecuted

1
It is of the
in Bokhara, they still
Hindus of Bokhara that Dr. Lansdell makes the
aston-
*
ishingly ingenuous remark : They paint a red circle, about two inches
in diameter, on their forehead, whether by compulsion or for glory
and beauty I Know not.' Russian Central Asia, vol. ii. p. 101.
173
'
exhibit in their prescribed dress and appearance the
The head is shaven

stamp of a peculiar people.
for
save
two long locks hanging in a curl on either
temple
they wear a square black calico bonnet
JEWS OF BOKHARA.
trimmed with Astrakhan border, and a girdle round

the waist.
To my astonishment I met with one who
could speak a
little
French.
One thing impressed
itself
iinii
JJoknara
mind, namely,
n
hat
very forriblv on
not no\v a haunt
mv
is
An
'
tri
ol
'
174
zealots,
but a city of merchants.
contains
It
peaceful, industrious, artisan population utterly unfitted for
war, and as wanting in martial instinct as
in capacity.
The
hostility to strangers,
and
parti-
cularly to Christians,
sometimes degenerating into
the grossest fanaticism,
upon which
earlier travellers
have enlarged, has either disappeared from closer

contact witli civilisation, or
I attribute
it
is
prudently disguised.
rather to the former cause, and to the
temperate conduct of the Russians in their dealings

with the natives because not even when I wandered
;
about alone, and there was no motive for deception,

did I observe the smallest indication of antagonism
a face expressed that blank
and haughty curiosity which the meanest Oriental
can so easily assume but I met with no rudeness
or repugnance.
Many
or interference.
On
the contrary, the
the people was friendly, and no one

gated declined to answer a question.
demeanour of
when
An
interro-
acquaint-
ance of the previous day would salute you as you

passed
by placing
stroking his beard.
on these occasions.
stroke, I feared
it
his
hand on
his
might be thought undignified or
I have frequently been asked since
Bokharan
women
and
I never quite knew what to do

For not having a beard to
contrary to etiquette to finger the empty

'
breast
air.
my
return
it
question which an Englishman always seems to

ask first what the women of Bokhara were like ? I
.^
am
I never
utterly unable to say.
of one between the ages of ten and
girls
ran about, unveiled, in loose
saw the features

The little
fifty.
silk frocks,
and
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

wore
175
from a tiny
Similarly the old hags were allowed to
skull-cap.
exhibit their innocuous charms, on the ground, I
their hair in long plaits escaping
suppose, that they could excite no dangerous emoBut the bulk of the female population were
tions.
veiled in a manner that defied and even repelled
For not only were the features concealed

behind a heavy black horsehair veil, falling from the
scrutiny.
top of the head to the bosom, but their figures were

loosely wrapped up in big blue cotton dressing-gowns,
the sleeves of which are not used but are pinned
together over the shoulders at the back and hang
down
to the ground,
where from under
mass of drapery appear a pair of
human
Bokharan
if
encased in big
After this I should be more or less
leather boots.
than
feet
this shapeless
were
speak enthusiastically of the

Not even the generous though fan-
ladies.
ciful interpretation of
to
Moore,
who sang
of
that deep blue melancholy dress
Bokhara's maidens wear in mindfulness
Of friends
could reconcile
or kindred, dead, or far away,
me
to so utter
an abnegation of femi-
nine duty.
From
In a place
the people I pass to the city.
so arrogant of its spiritual reputation, it is not surTheir
prising that religious edifices should abound.
number
has, however, been greatly exaggerated.

devout Sunnite of Bokhara boasts that he can worship
Allah in a different mosque on each day of the year.

But this number must probably be halved. Similarly
Religious
and
pT-
176
the alleged total of one hundred and sixty medresses,

or religious collets, is about double the actual
Both mosque and medresse
liirure.
an exception,
are,
with scarce
in a state of great dilapidation
and
decay the beautiful enamelled tiles, bearing in blue

nnd white eJmraetcrs texts from the Koran, having
fallen or been stripped from the lofty pishtaks or
;
MEDRESSE AT BOKHARA.
fiii'dilcK,
'
and the
interiors bein< r in a state of great

O
<
In a panorama of the city are conspicuous

squalor.
three domes covered with azure tiles.
One of these
belongs to
the
great
mosque Musjid Baliand, or
Kalian, variously reported to have been built or restored by Tim ur, where the Jumma, or
Friday service,
is held, attended
the
and
Amir,
in
the presence.
by
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
177
theoretically, of the entire population.
The mosque
consists of a vast
open court surrounded by a double

and sometimes a triple colonnade. Here it was that
1219 Jenghiz Khan, riding into the mosque, and,

being told that it was the House of God, dismounted,
in
ascended the
and
flinging the Koran on

The hay is cut give your
a permission which his savage horde
pulpit,
to the ground, cried out
horses fodder
'
'
quickly interpreted as authority for a wholesale

The two other domes surmount the
massacre.
largest medresse of Miri Arab, standing opposite, said
to contain one hundred and fourteen cells, and to
have attached to
and exhibiting
tive
work
it
two hundred and thirty mullahs,
in its structural detail the best decora-
These buildings are typical

and even of the faith of the
in Bokhara.
of the religious
life
people, which, in the degradation of morals so conspicuous in the East of this century, and partly owing
to contact with a civilisation
whose
politic
avoidance
of prosely tism or persecution has encouraged indifference, have become a hollow form, veiling hypocrisy
and corruption.
The fanaticism of the dervishes or
of
whom
living
in
'
Arabian Nights,'
there used to be many orders in Bokhara,
kalendarS) as they are called in the
tekkehs
or
convents, arid
who
stirred
dangerous bigotry by their wild movements and

appeals, has subsided or taken the form of a mendi-
cancy which, if unattractive, does not threaten a

breach of the peace. Eeligious toleration, inculcated
on the one side, has developed on the other with an
astonishing rapidity.
178
Between the MusiJ id Baliand and the Miri Arab
The Great
Minaret
rises the tapering shaft of the
Minari Kalian, or Great
Minaret, whence criminals are thrown headlong, and

which no European had hitherto been allowed to
ascend.
have since heard that in the early part of
the present year this rule was for the

The tower, which we
history relaxed.
first
time in
had already
seen from the railway, and which reminded me somewhat of the celebrated Kutub Minar, near Delhi, is
nearly two hundred feet high, and is built of concenrows of bricks stamped with decorative patterns,
and converging towards the summit, where is an
open gallery, on the roof of which reposes an
tric
enormous
stork's nest.
Some
natives sitting at the
me that the keys were not forthcoming,

but that on Fridays the doors flew mysteriously open.
base informed
Their refusal to allow Christians to mount to the top

has always been attributed to the fear that from that
height sacrilegious eyes, looking
might probe a
roofs of the town,
secrets of female existence.
down upon
little
the
flat
too deeply the
I succeeded in obtaining
a very fair panorama of the city by climbing to one

of the highest points of the numerous cemeteries
1
From there was
scattered throughout the place.
spread out around
me
a wilderness of
flat
clay roofs,
above whose level surface towered the Ark or citadel,
mound, the Great Minaret, the ruined

pishtaks of medresses, and the turquoise domes.
built
on a
lofty
Khanikoff says there are thirteen inside the city walls. Burnes,
oversight, appears to have overlooked them ; and
yet they are a very noticeable feature.
by an extraordinary
THE GREAT MINARET
BOKHARA THE KOliLK

The Minari Kalian
.
is still used for public execuT

a false coiner, a matricide, and
.
tion, three criminals
a robber
179
having expiated their offences
criminals
hurled
from the
summit
sum-
in this
fashion during the last three years.

Judgment
native
with
the
whose
tribunals,
pronounced by
mary
is
have not made the smallest
jurisdiction the Russians

effort
to
The execution
interfere.
is
fixed
for
bazaar day, when the adjoining streets and the square

at the base of the tower are crowded with people.
The public, crier proclaims aloud the guilt of the condemned man and the avenging justice of the soveThe culprit is then hurled from the summit,
reign.
and, spinning through the air, is dashed to pieces on
the hard
This
ground
mode
at the base.
of punishment,
i
whose publicity
arid
-,
horror are well calculated to act as a deterrent
among
an Oriental population,
is not the
only surviving proof
that the nineteenth century can scarcely be considered
But a
as yet to have got a firm hold upon Bokhara.
Divan Begi, second

Minister of the Crown, eldest son of the Kush Begi,
short time before
my
or Grand Vizier
the crafty old
visit the
man who
for
many
years has guided the policy of the Khanate, and whose

memory extends back to the times of Stoddart and
Conolly
Assassinaturn of the
was publicly assassinated by an Afghan in

He was shot with two bullets, and soon
the streets.
Various explanations were given of

one
this tragedy,
theory being that it was an act of
private revenge for a recent official seizure of the
after expired.
murderer's property on account of taxes which he

had refused to pay. Others contended that it was
N 2
i>ivn
180
due
to religious animosity, excited
the Persian
by
heresy of the slain man his father

.the Kush Begi, having been a Persian slave who rose
to eminence by marrying a cast-off wife of the late
descent and
Sliiite
,-
But there seemed

believing that the act was
Amir.
to
be
sufficient
reason for
really an expiring effort of

outraged patriotism, the blow being directed against
the minister who was supposed to be mainly respon-
sible for the Ilussophile tendencies of the
Government,
and who had inflamed the indignation of the more
bigoted of his
countrymen by countenancing the

advent of the railway, and thus setting the seal upon
Whichever of these explanathe murderer was successful in his
Bokharan humiliation.
be correct,
object, but paid the penalty by a fate consecrated in
the immemorial traditions of Bokhara, though a
startling incident under the new regime.
tions
Torture
of
He was handed over by the Amir to the relatives

the murdered man that they might do with him
what they willed. By them he was beaten with sticks

and stabbed with knives. Accounts vary as to the
actual amount of torture inflicted upon the miserable
wretch
his eyes
was
but
it is
gouged
said that his eyelids
town
off or
In this agonising condition he
out.
tied to the tail of
streets of the
were out
an ass and dragged through the

market-place, where his
to the
body was quartered and thrown
to the dogs.
It is
consoling to know that this brutal atrocity the

vendetta of the East, the old savage law of" an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth was enacted in the
absence of the Russian Resident, who,
it is
to be hoped,
THE NOBLE
7J0A7/J/.M
would have interfered

had
to prevent its
lie
been upon the spot.
The
interior of the city

47
is
181
accomplishment
a wilderness of crooked
MAIN STREET OF BOKFIARA.
winding irregularly between the blind walls

of clay-built houses, which are without windows and
alleys,
have no aperture
wooden
in their front but closely barred
Trees line one of the principal streets

and hang above the frequent tanks and pools, which
are neither so large, so well filled, or so clean as those
doors.
On
in Indian towns.
the contrary, the water
itM-ior
the city
is
often
low and stagnant and if the pool is in the neighbourhood of a mosque, being considered holy, it is
r
used for drinking as well as for washing purposes,

and spreads the germs of the various endemic
,f
IN CENTRAL ASIA
182
The
largest of these reservoirs is the Liabeha.us Divan 13egi, near one of the most frequented
diseases.
mosques.
Wiiler-, in
rows of stone steps descend to the
Fjight
which
men
The surrounding
are always dipping their hands.
space;
is
popular lounge; and
cooked meats, confectionery, fruits, and tea are dispensed from rows of stalls under an avenue of mull>errv-l rees.
From dawn
ihe
in
crowd
to sunset the largest
is
collected
liighislan or markel-place in the north-west
of the town.
Every square
LIAllKII.U'S
of the surface
foot
is
DIVAN BEGI.
occupied by stalls and booths, which are frequently

shaded by awnings of woven reed balanced on poles
1
Uimios' account
sights
ami proxies
7'r/nv 7* into
in liio
lli,uiiist:m is
Iloklmrd. vol.
.still
the
l>os>t.
ii.)
of the varied
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

like the umbrellas of the fakirs
at Benares.
Ganges
183
on the banks of the
Here men come
and
to buy proThe butchers'
fruit.
meat, flowers,
counters are covered with the kundiuks or fat rumps
of the so-called big-tailed sheep, of which Marco
visions,
Polo said, six hundred years ago, that
pounds and upwards, and are
thirty
to eat.'
fat
Blocks of rose-coloured rock
they weigh
and excellent
salt
from the
mines near Karshi were exposed in great abundance.

Flowers appeared to be very popular, and many of
men wore
the
a sprig of yellow blossom stuck behind
meat went about shouting

their wares, which consisted of kebobs and patties on
Fruit was extraordinarily luxuriant and good.
trays.
Street vendors of
the ear.
Magnificent melons were sold at not more than a

farthing apiece and the price of luscious white grapes
;
was only a rouble (two shillings) for eight ponds, or

288 English Ibs. Peaches, apricots, and the celebrated Bokharan plums were not then in season.
Not far away was the horse and donkey market;
a horse might be bought for any price from 5$.
to SO/.
about
but a very respectable animal would cost
10/.
At the extremity of
r
Citadel, originally built
t
the Kighistan rises the
Ark
or The citadel
i\r\e\
by Alp Arslan, over 800 years
upon a lofty natural elevation a mile in circumference, and surrounded by a high battlemented wall.
The entrance gateway, erected by Nadir Shah in 1742,
ago,
approached by a paved slope and leads between

two towers, above which is fixed the European clock
is
made
for the tyrant Nasrullah
by the
Italian prisoner,
and State
prison
184
Giovanni Orlandi, as the ransom for his

the Ark are
Kush Begi,
life.
situated the palaces of the
Within
Amir and
the
the Treasury, the public offices, three

mosques, and the State prison. Sauntering out one
morning quite early I endeavoured to penetrate into

its interior, but was
stopped and sent back by the
frowns and gesticulations of a crowd of natives seated
in the
Somewhere
doorway.
in this pile of buildings
was the horrible
hole, or bug-pit, into which Stoddart

and Conolly were thrown. It is said for some time
to have been sealed up, though the fact that quite
recently this was
common mode
of Bokharan
proved by the experience of the French

travellers MM. Bonvalot and Capus, who visited the
punishment
Bokharan
is
fortress of
Karshi
in
1882, and were shown
there a subterranean hole from which a sickening
stench exhaled, and in which they heard the clank of

chains, and saw the uplifted despairing hands of the
2
poor wretches immured below.
The
Times
'
corre-
spondent who visited Bokhara a few months before I

did was shown a part of the existing Zindan or prison,
which he described
in a letter to the
'
Times
'
(OctoBut either the officials must have had

1888).
intimation of his visit, or he was not shown the worst
ber
2,
part
for
one of
my companions, being
admitted with-
out warning, found one hundred prisoners huddled

together in a low room, and chained to each other by
iron collars round their necks,
1
vol.
2
For the pathetic story of

ii.
this
wooden manacles on
man, vife Schuyler's Turltistan,
p. 90.
En Asic
Cent rale.
De Moscou
en Bactriaiie,
p.
1J1
w
a
H
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

their hands,
and
on
fetters
185
their feet, so that they
could neither stand nor turn nor scarcely move. The

Zindan, however, is not the same as the Kana Khaneh,
where Stoddart was tortured
now covered up with

which the
nor must the dungeon,
a slab in the floor of the former,
'
Times correspondent was shown, be conthe famous bug-pit.

The Zindan with its
'
fused witli
two compartments, the upper and lower (i.e. subterranean) dungeons, were and are outside the Ark.
The Kana Khaneh was

from the Eighistan. 1 M.
me
inside
it,
near the entrance
Tcharikoff, the Resident, told
Tashkent that the present Amir upon his

accession shut up one of these prisons, the hundred
at
and thirteen criminals who had long lain there being

brought out, some of them beaten, and a few executed,
but the majority released and it may have been to
;
Ab
the
Khaneh, with
its
annexe the
that he referred.
However
show
that there
related will
done
this be, the facts I

still
remains
much
have
to
be
in mitigating the barbarity of native rule.
At
city
Kana Khaneh,
is
all
hours the most interesting portion of the

Tcharsu, or Great Bazaar, one of the
the
and most important in the

vast extent of ground, and is said
largest
East.
It
covers a
to consist of thirty
or forty separate bazaars, of twenty-four caravanserais

for the storage of goods and accommodation of
merchants, and of six timis, or circular vaulted spaces,

from which radiate the principal alleys, shaded with
mats from the sun, and crowded with human beings

on donkey-back, on horseback, and on foot. Huge
1
Vide Khanikoff (translation), pp. 101-2.
The Great
186
arbas crash through the narrow streets and just

shave the counters on either hand. Behind these,
in
small cupboard-like
squat
shops,
the Oriental
tradesmen surrounded by their wares. Long lines of

splendid camels laden with bales of cotton march
superciliously along, attached to each other by a rope
bound round the nose, the cartilage of which is for-
bidden to be pierced, in the familiar fashion of the

East, by a humane decree of the late Amir.
Curiosities
and rnatm-
In different parts we may see the armourers'

shops, the turners shops, where the workman turns
a primitive lathe by the aid of a bowstring; the

vendors of brightly painted red and green wooden
saddles witli tremendous
pommels inlaid with ivory

of shabraques, or saddlecloths, a speciality of Bokhara,
made of crimson velvet gorgeously embroidered with
;
gold and silver thread, and powdered with silver

spangles; of black, curly lambskin fleeces from
Kara Kul
of leather belts stuck with knives
of the
bright green tobacco or snuff which the natives chew

with great avidity, and which is carried in a tiny
gourd fastened with a stopper
of pottery, coarse in
of water-pipes, or
texture but spirited in design
tchilim, in which two tubes project from a brass;
mounted gourd, one of them holding the charcoal

and tobacco, the other for the smoker's mouth; of
embroideries executed in large flowery patterns, and
for the most part in crimson silk on a cotton ground,
by a needle
fixed in a
wooden handle
like a gimlet.
Elsewhere are the bazaars for harness, carpets, rope,

iron, hardware, skins, dried fruits, and drugs, the
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
187
latter containing, in addition to medicines, cosmetics
eyebrows and lashes, and rouge for

and nails. Whole streets are devoted to
for the ladies'
their cheeks
the sale of cotton goods, gaudy Bokharan velvets

and rainbow-coloured native silks and tissues. Here
leather riding-trousers, or chumbar, are procurable,
stained red with madder, and showily embroidered
with
silk
down
the front.
There are displayed green
leather boots all in one piece, or long riding-boots

with turned-up toes and ridiculously sharp-pointed
heels.
Kassian samovars, or tea-urns, are sold in great

numbers, and one simmers in almost every shop, tea
in Japan,
being as constant a beverage here as
it
is
or as coffee
thought the
is
in
Constantinople.
Brass and
copper
ware
But, on the other

jewellery insignificant and poor.
hand, the brass and copper work, which is confined
to a separate bazaar,
resounding the whole day with
a mighty din of hammers, is original and beautiful.

Elegant kunyans, or brass ewers, may be purchased
;
and every variety of bowl, beaten into quaint designs

and shapes, or with a pattern chiselled into the metal
through a surface coating of tin. I was more than
once offered silver coins of the Gra3co-Bactrian
dynasty, bearing the inscription
BASIAETS ET9T-
AHMOS.
Bargaining was only to be pursued with great
patience and much cajolery, the vendor being as a
rule by 110 means anxious to part with his article
Crowds will collect;

except for a considerable profit.
round a European as he is endeavouring to make &
Barter and
188
purchase, following each stage of the transaction

with the keenest interest, and applauding the rival
strategy.
from hand
opinion.
The object under discussion will be passed

to hand, and each will give his own
Usually a volunteer middleman detaches
himself from the crowd, and with a great show of

disinterestedness affects to conciliate the owner and
to complete the bargain.
good deal of
gesticula-
must of necessity be employed, for with a total

ignorance of Tartar on the one side, and of English,
tion
German, or French on the

finitesimal
command
difficult.
The shopkeeper
He
sonal attention.
and whispered
other,
and only an
in-
of Russian on both, progress

is
likes to
is
very amenable to perbe patted on the back
and
a prolonged struggle, repeated perhaps for two or three

days, you can at length get hold of his hand and
to in the ear;
if,
after
give it a hearty shake, the bargain is clinched and

the purchase is yours.
The people struck me as
very stupid in their computations, requiring calculating-frames with rows of beads in order to make
the simplest reckoning, and being very slow in exchange. But I thought them a far less extortionate
and rascally
lot
than their fellows in the marts of
Cairo or Stamboul.
Bokharan currency
Jenkinson's description of the

still
holds good
Their money is silver and copper

;
they have but one piece of
currant
for golde, there is

silver,
and that
is
none
worth
12 pence English and the copper money are called pooles,

and 120 of them goeth to the value of the said 12d., and is
more common paiment than the silver.
;
BOKHARA THE NOBLK
389
At the time of my visit the silver tenc/a was worth

about fivepence, and contained sixty-five of the little
copper puls.
quite evident that the Russians possess a Russian
monopoly
complete monopoly of the import trade from Europe, of import
Earlier travellers report having seen many Birming- Europe
It
is
-i-,
ham and Manchester goods. I only noticed one shop

where English wares w ere being sold, and they had
r
Russian prints, calicome through a Bombay firm.

are
cottons
and
coes,
successfully competing with
the far more beautiful native materials, and hideous
brocades from Moscow debauch the instinctive good
Russian iron, hardware, and

porcelain have driven out the native manufacture of
taste
of the
these
articles.
East.
European ink, pens, writing-paper,

are
and note-books
exposed for sale. Kerosene lamps
are beginning to take the place of the mutton-grease
a year ago the only means of lighting, and
the sewing-machine buzzes in the cotton-seller's shop.
candles,
Since
till
my
return I have heard that the entire town
about to be lighted
witli
is
petroleum.
1
My observations are confirmed by the report of M. Tcharikoff for
the year 1887 (quoted in No. 447 of the Annual Series of Trade Reports
of the Foreign Office, 1889), which contained these words
English
*
goods are not able to compete with Kussian products, and English
Also by
prints are rarely to be met with at present in Bokhara.'
the journal of the Russian Ministry of Finance (1889), which said:
Since the construction of the Samarkand section of the Transcaspian
railway the import trade from Russia into Bokhara has made enormous progress. On the one hand, this trade has visibly driven out
goods of English origin from the Bokharan market, whither manufactured goods from India are never sent, with the exception perhaps of
4
English muslin and, on the other hand, it is clear that the exportation of Russian goods from Bokhara into Afghanistan has increased
;
also.
RUSSIA IN (JKNTR.il ASIA
190
In another direction a
great change
the city
may be traced
two or three years.
For a long time the

considerable trade with Russia was not in Russian
to the last
Native merchants, travelling by Orenburg to

Nijni Novgorod, taking with them silk and cotton
hands.
stuffs,
camels' hair, goats' hair, wool, and furs, and
bringing back Eussian commodities, reaped the double

In 1873, Dr. Schuyler reported that there
profit.
was only one Russian merchant in Bokhara. As late
1885 the agents of the Eussian Commercial Company were the only representatives, and were reported
as
to
be
living, almost as prisoners, in
a caravanserai.
Now
that the railway has been opened, and communication is easy, the Russians are awakening to the
possibilities of this vast untilled field of operation.
Native monopoly
challenged in every quarter.
is
There are branches in Bokhara of
the
Imperial
Russian Bank, of the Central Asian Commercial Company, and of the Eussian Transport Society and of
;
private firms, such as those of Messrs. Nadjeschda,

Djukoff, Burnascheff, Dursclimitt, Stein, Neumann,
&c., all of whom are doing a lucrative business, and
some of whom have
started branches in other towns
of the Khanate.
statistics
The
supplied
latest statistics of
by
the
'
Times
1888), were as follows
Russo-Bokluran trade, as
'
correspondent (October
2,
Ilouhles
....
Bussian imports into the Khanate of Bokhara

]3okharan exports in to. Russia
Surplus in favour of Russia
From
16,675,000
1.5,040,000
1,635,000
another well-informed source, however, I have
BOKHAKA THE NOBLE
a different distribution of the same sum-
received
total,
191
of 31,715,000 roubles, viz. as follows
Bokharan trade with Russia

Persia.
Exports from
Imports into
Bokhara
Bokh a ra
Roubles
Koublos
12,500,000
10,000,000
2,120,000
5,475,000
420,000
600,000
15,040,000
16^75,000
Afghanistan
and India
Total
Here, as elsewhere, I have found it extremely difficult

to obtain accurate figures but in this case I know
;
that the second computation is official and correct.

In illustration of the extraordinary change which
its
brief existence the
about, let
me
111
railway has already brought
M
-i
quote Dr. Iley fielder's
own words
publication to which I have already referred
in a
]
:
In the summer of 1888 landowners from Poltawa carne
and bought up live sheep in Kara

which
home
took
Kul,
by the railway. From Moscow
they
came buyers of lambskins from Asia Minor, French dealers
to the Amir's dominion
from the Caucasus, Armenians

and Jews, who bought huge quantities of carpets, so that
the price was almost doubled. Not a single foreigner who
for the export of walnut-trees
attended the opening ceremonies, not one of the travellers

from France, England, Italy, and Russia, who have journeyed
over the half-finished line, went away without purchasing
some
silks,
embroideries, metal-work, arms, or knives.
But
brought with them European innovations; and

in
the winter of 1888, the bazaars were stocked with
already,
articles never before seen
porcelain, lamps, glasses, mirrors,
they also
brushes, writing materials, coffee, preserves, biscuits.
At
the
railway stations appeared cards, cigars, beer, wine, brandy

(the sale of which on their own soil the Bokhariots have
1
Unsere Zeit, October 1888.
Leipzig.
Effects of
therailwrai
192
prohibited by agreement).
European furniture, partly imported, partly imitated in uncouth fashion, came in the wake
of European needs European buildings in a modest way are
;
springing up along the railroad ; and near his country seat

at Kari, the Amir has, of his own
had built two
accord^
Russian
the one in modern, the other in old RussoByzantine style. They are in stone, and are architecturally
tasteful and pretty.
Moreover, some engineers have conedifices,
structed the station- buildings in beautifully hewn freestone

and marble from the neighbouring rocks, as an example to
the Sarmatians for the use of their rich mountain stones and
marble**.
^ Ie a^ ove paragraph
ment that the Amir has
^n
will
he noticed the
interdicted
the
state-
sale
of
intoxicating liquor on his own territory, except, it

may be added, for the use of the Russian Agency,
and
for the
members of
the
European colony in the

History repeats itself; for, 330 years ago,
capital.
Master Anthony Jenkinson, before mentioned,

corded the fact that
it is
re-
forbidden at Boghar to drinke any other thing than

and whosoever is found to breake
water and mare's milke
whipped arid beaten most cruelly through the open

markets and there are officers appointed for the same who
have authoritie to goe into any man's house to search if he
that law
is
have either aqua vitce wine or brage, and finding the same doe
breake the vessels, spoil the drinke, and punish the masters
of the house most cruelly; yea, and many times if they
perceive but by the breath of a man that he hath drunke,
without further examination he shall not escape their hands,
What orthodoxy dictated

policy, in the
now
but
it
in the sixteenth century,
decay of religious fervour, recommends

is greatly to be feared that the second
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

will not
prove as lasting or as powerful a deterrent
as was the
the line
193
is
At
the railway stations along

to be found a plentiful display of liquor
first.
all
arid spirits, in the fantastic glass bottles,
soldier in Central Asia lias
an excuse
in the loneliness of his life
But
for insobriety
and the want of more
his
example is unhappily
The Mussulmans of the Caucasus have
elevating pastime.
contagious.
like
shaped
The Russian
animals, that the Eussian taste affects.
long ago waived
their
scruples
the
of
Persians
Khorasan have been similarly seduced by Eussian

importation, and it is to be expected that artificial
more orthodox Sunnites

surrender. Already the Khans
restrictions will not save the
of Bokhara from a like
of Merv, habituated to European entertainment, sip

their glass of vodka, and toss off their bumper of
champagne.
Where
costliness does
not intervene,
the licence of an upper class is soon apt to

the law of a lower.
Western civilisation in
ward march suggests no sadder

cannot convey
with Harpies in
it
foul contact the
its
reflection
become
its
East-
than that
must come
virtues alone, but
its train, and smirch with their

immemorial simplicity of Oriental
life.
Nevertheless in
many
respects the latter

i
re-
still
/N
i
-IT
mams intact. Customs
and methods prevail which
i
date
from an unknown antiquity, and alternately transport

the observer to the Bagdad of Haroun al Easchid and
Hebrews of the Mosaic dispensation. In a low

dark hovel I saw corn being ground by a miserable
horse who, with blinded eyes and his nose tied to
to the
survival
f ancient
customs
194
beam overhead, was walking round and round a
and causing to revolve an upper and a

nether millstone below the surface of the ground. I
narrow
circle,
saw cotton being carded by the primitive agency of a

double bow, the smaller one being fixed to the ceiling
and the larger one attached to its string by a cord,
and struck by a mallet so
One morning
bound.
crowd
as to cause a smart re-
in the
collected in the street
bazaar
we observed a
round a mounted horse-
man, and presently howls of pain issued from the

It turned out to be the Eeis-icentre of the throng.
shariat, a religious functionary or censor of morals
an
office
Maasum
which was revived a century ago by Amir

whose duty it is to ride about the town,
compelling people to attend the schools or mosques,

and inspecting weights and measures.
He was
operation, and was comparing the stone weights in a shop, which are often
substituted for metal because of their cheapness, with
engaged upon the
latter
The luckless shopkeeper, conthe standard weight.

victed of fraud, was forthwith stripped bare in the
street, forced to kneel down, and soundly castigated
on the back with a leather thong whip, carried
by the Keis' attendants. The features of the crowd
expressed a faint curiosity, but not a trace of another
emotion.
eye
would be hard to exaggerate the part which

the manners and generosity of Dr. Heyfelder, who
It
Dr.
er
has
now
played
lived for nearly
two years
in the pacification of this
fanaticism.
As
in Bokhara,
have
whilom haunt of
early as six in the
morning people
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

crowd
into the
childish
is
195
to see him.
Embassy
their faith that they
Very often so
do not ask for a pre-
but simply implore his touch.
At first the
women declined to unveil, would not allow him to feel
their pulse, and only communicated with him
through
scription,
the
medium
of a male relative.
Familiarity, however,
When the lately
obliterating this suspicion.
is fast
murdered Divan Begi was lying on his death-bed, and

his life blood was ebbing away, he
kept asking every
few minutes for his doctor. The latter was unfortunately at a distance, and, owing to a block on the
fat old
railway, could not come.
Beg, he told me,
came
to
'
said,
Can you make me
from eating four dinners a day.'

said
the
doctor ; < eat three.' Thereupon
Certainly,'
better?
'
him one day and

I suffer
the old gentleman became very angry, and retorted,

6
How can I eat less when I am called upon to enter-
venerable guests ?
When the young Amir
came back from the coronation of the Czar in Eussia,
'
tain
Dr. Heyfelder asked him what he had liked best in

that country. ' The lemonade and ice at Moscow,' was
the ingenuous reply an answer which reminds one
of O'Donovan's tale of the man who had been a ser;
vant of the Persian Embassy in London for nine

years,
and who, having returned to his native land, said
that his dearest recollections of the British
metropolis
were
its
corned beef and bitter
The object
in
ale.
which the doctor
is
specially inte-
the extirpation of the well-known Bokharan worm of*"

disease, the reshta, or filaria medinensis, a parasite
which cannot even now be better described than in
rested
is
02
196
the words of
Anthony Jenkinson
three
hundred years
ago:
There
is
running through the middes of the
little river
saide Citie, but the water thereof is most unholsome, for it

breedeth sometimes in men that drinke thereof, and especially
in
them that be not there borne, a worme of an
ell
long,
which
the legge betwixt the flesh and the

commonly
and
is
skinne,
pluckt out about the ancle with great art and
the
Surgeons being much practised therein, and if
cunning
in
lieth
shee breake in plucking out, the partie dieth, and every day
she commeth out about an inche, which is rolled up, and so
worketh till shee be all out.
So
common
malady in Bokhara, that every

and the same individual
fifth person suffers from it
may be harbouring at the same time from two to ten,
nay, from twenty to thirty, of these worms. Khanikoff
is this
even relates that he heard of a Khivan
who had one
hundred and twenty simultaneously in his body. 1 Their

extraction
is
not
difficult
kinson said, part of the

in the flesh,
may
two
or dangerous, unless, as Jen-
worm
is
broken
off
and
when suppuration and consequent
When
ensue.
extracted
to three feet long,
it
is
left
risk
sometimes from
and has the appearance of a
curious feature is, that

long string of vermicelli.
examination
of the drinking-water
the most minute
of Bokhara under the microscope has never revealed
the reshta germ.
Nor, again, has Dr. Heyfelder ever
discovered or identified a male specimen. He is inclined
to think
pushes her
1
Bokhara,
way
its
that the female, being oviparous,

to the surface of the skin
Amir and
into English, 1845, p. 68.
its
People.
By
Khanikoff.
when
full
Translated
BOKHARA THE NOBLE
197
of young each reshta, upon dissection, being found

to contain from half a million to a million embryo
Either the male dies after fertilisation, or
worms.
The embryos, if occasionally

the parasite is bisexual.
dosed with a drop of water, will continue to live for
The doctor has made frequent efforts to
obtain statistics from the natives both at Bokhara and
six days.
to the character, area,
Samarkand, as
and probable
but has failed to obtain any

no
means certain even that it is
replies.
by
necessarily to be traced to the waters of the Zerafshan.
Higher up the river it is more rare. At Kermineh
causes of the
affliction,
It is
it is
quite an exception, at
when imported, and
Samarkand it is only found
at Jizak, once a centre of the
has been immensely reduced since the

Eussian occupation and superintendence of the water
disease,
it
The
supply.
filthy condition of
pools at Bokhara
some of the open
quite sufficient to account for its

wide propagation in that place.
One of the commonest causes of reproduction is the shocking care-
of the
is
who
are the professional

extractors of the worm, and who throw down the
lessness
living parasite,
multiplies
its
barbers,
which very
likely crawls
away and
species a hundred-thousand-fold in
pool or puddle.
some
Dr. Heyfelder would have a law
passed that every reshta shall be burned upon exThe disease could, however, only be eraditraction.
cated by a very stringent supervision of the water
the
supply, and by the compulsory use of filters
;
being the means by 'which the Eussians, while

constructing the railway, entirely escaped contagion.
latter
KMSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
198
Boklmnm
army
Amir
the
prerogatives which are left to the

are the possession of a native army, and the
Among
insignia and retinue of an Asiatic Court.

is
said to consist of about 12,000
lime
it
men
The former
Vambery's
an irregular
(in
was 40,000), but resembles
gendarmerie rather than a standing army. I expect

that its value, which might be guessed by analogy
MILITARY PARADE AT BOKIIAHA.
with the least warlike forces of the native princes in

India, was very accurately gauged by General Komaro(l',
the
are
Avlio
smiled
Bokharan
when
soldiers
asked him
if
were any good, and
possibly better than the Persians.'
he thought
said,
'They
It is
quite
recently done, of their
to the Oxus to resist the Afghans.
laughable to hear, as
we have
being moved down

Their uniform consists of a black sheepskin shako, a
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

loose red tunic with leather belt
199
and cartridge-pouch,
abundant pantaloons, and big leather boots. It is

closely modelled on the Eussian lines, and includes
even Eussian shoulder-straps. Each soldier is armed
with some kind of musket and a sword; and the
words of command, which were framed by a Cossack

deserter
named
who
organised the army for

the late Amir, are delivered in a mixture of Eussian,
Popoff,
and English. The men are said to be volunand

while serving to receive pay equal to from
teers,
1(M. to 20/. a year.
There are also reported to be
two squadrons of cavalry and ten pieces of artillery.
Tartar,
The
Bokhara seems to
be limited to precision in drill, in which I was
assured by some European officers that they are very
successful.
Every movement is smartly executed to
ideal of military efficiency in
the sound of a bugle, and the voice of the officers,
whose uniform
ible,
is
which
is
and appearance contemptThere are some 150 signals,
fantastic
never heard.
it is
not surprising to hear that
several years to learn.
ordered
to
pile
Where
arms and
to
it
takes a
man
the British soldier
stand at ease,
is
the
down on the ground. Some years ago

the drill contained a movement of a most
interesting
character which has since been abandoned. At a
given signal the soldiers lay down upon their backs,
Bokharan
sits
and kicked
their heels in the air.
This was copied
from the action of Eussian troops in one of the earlier

engagements, where, after crossing a river, they were
ordered to
lie
big top-boots.
down and shake

The
the water out of their
retreating Bokhariots
saw the
200
AV:,sS7J
fX CKXTRAr, ASIA
manoeuvre, and attributed to
it
a magical share in the
Itussiau victory.
The Bokharan Court

p ()m p
all(]
The Amir
inferior
is still
is
beings
is
all
the
of the mystery of an Asiatic regime.

treated as a sort of demigod, whom
may admire from
PALACE OF THE
glimpse
surrounded by
much
a distance.
No
AMIlt.
ever caught of the royal harem.

Batchas,
among the inseparable accessories
or dancing-boys, are
of the
palace,
and represent a Bokharan
taste
as
depraved. An audience with the

Amir is attended with much formality, and is followed
on his part by an offering of gifts. No European can
effeminate as
1)0
it is
presented except
in
uniform or in evening dress.
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

One of
my
who was
companions,
201
a relative of the
Governor- General, having been granted an audience,

found that he had not the requisite garments in which
to go.
Accordingly 1 had to rig him out in my
evening clothes with a white
tie
and a Bond Street
Etiquette further requires the presentee to

ride to the palace on horseback and a more comic
shirt.
spectacle than an English gentleman in a dress-suit

riding in broad daylight in the middle of a gaudily
dressed cavalcade through an Oriental town cannot
be conceived.
At such moments even
the English
the audience
breast yearns for a decoration.

When
is over a dastarkhan is served, one or
more horses
with embroidered saddlecloths and turquoise-studded

bridles are brought in, and he 'whom the king
'
delighteth to honour is sent

full of brilliant khalats.
home with
The narrative of
a wardrobe
Bokhara
my experiences
111
doubt leave the same
upon
at
will Tendency
.
the minds
impression
of my readers as did their occurrence upon my own,
viz. one of astonishment at the extraordinary change
110
which must have been
effected in the attitude
demeanour of the people during the

If the accounts that
about the hostility
amounts
to little
were received up to that date

of the inhabitants be true, it
less
Whether this be due
last
and
few years.
to a
than a political revolution.
merely interested recognition
of the overwhelming strength of Eussia, or to the

skilful diplomacy of the latter, or, as General Koma-
me, to the salutary and all-powerful

influence of the rouble, it must equally be set down
roff hinted to
to incorpo-
202
The
conquering power.
allegiance of the Amir may be considered as absonot only because a treacherous move
lutely assured
to
the
of
credit
the
would
but because Eussia,
at once cosfchinLhis throne,
having possession of the upper courses of the Zerafshan, could cut off the water supply of Bokhara in a
week, and starve the city into submission.
What diplomacy began

pleting.
the railway
So mercantile, and,
is fast
may be
it
com-
added, so
mercenary a people as the Bokhariots, fall ready

victims to the friendly stress of commercial fusion.
Native finance
is itself
gradually, as trade
is
an indirect
ally of
developed, the
Eussia
for
cent.
2-J- per
valorem duty, both upon exports and imports,
which is still levied under the terms of the Treaty of
1873, as well as the heavy local taxation, amounting
<jcZ
pound, exclusive of the tithe

to the Mosque, which is exacted from the subjects of
the Amir, as compared with those of the Czar, will
to nearly Is.
fid.
in the
operate as inducements towards a closer union.

Looking forward into the future, I anticipate that
Bokhara may
still
for
many
years remain a quasi
independent State, but that the capital will gradually

succumb to Eussian influence and civilisation, and
that so in time a party
may
arise
among
the natives
themselves agitating for incorporation.

For my own part, on leaving the city I could not
^P
reji c i n g at having seen
it
scribed as the twilight epoch of
go
its
what may be
glory.
de-
Were I
to
might be to find electric light

The King of Korea has it at Seoul,
again in later years
in the highways.
in
it
BOKHARA THE NOBLE

a surely inferior capital
has
it
at
Kabul
then
why
203
Amir
of Afghanistan
not he of Bokhara ? It
the
might be to see window-panes in the houses, and to

meet with trousered figures in the streets. It might
be to eat zakuska in a Eussian restaurant and to sleep
to be ushered by a tchinovnik into
iu a Eussian hotel
the palace of the Ark, and to climb for fifty kopecks

the Minari Kalian.
can tell whether Eussian
Who
beer will not have supplanted tea, and vodka have
supplemented opium ? Civilisation may ride in the

Devil's Wagon, but the devil has a habit of exacting
his
toll.
Kush
What
could be said for a Bokhara without
Begi, a Divan Begi, and an Inak
mullahs and kalendars,
its
toksalas and
its
without
its
mirzabashi,
shabraques and tchapans and khalats? Already

the mist of ages is beginning to rise and to dissolve.
The lineaments are losing their beautiful vague
its
mystery of outline. It is something, in the short

interval between the old order and the new, to have
seen Bokhara, w^hile it may still be called the Noble,
and before it has ceased to be the most interesting
city in the world.
HUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
204
CHAPTER
VII
SAMARKAND AND TASHKENT
Towns also and cities, especially the ancient, I failed not to look upon
with interest. How beautiful to see thereby, as through a long vista, into
the remote Time ; to have, as it were, an actual section of almost the earliest
Past brought safe into the Present, and set before your eyes
I
CARLYLE, Sartor Resartus.
The Zerafshan
valley Bokharan irrigation Danger to the city

Possible reforms Population and fertility of the Samarkand
district
Description of monuments
History of Samarkand
The Bussian town Modern public buildings

Change wrought by the railway Absurd rumour of restoration
to BokharaThe Citadel
Zindan, or prison The ancient city
Tomb of Tamerlane The Bighistan Leaning minarets
Material of structure Samples of the best Arabian style Ruins
of Bibi Khanym Shah-Zindeh Need of a Society for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments Sunset at Samarkand Bussian
renounced
Befuge of political exiles Journey to TashStages of the route Buins of Afrasiab

Bridge of Shadman-MelikGates of Tamerlane The Waste of
Hunger The Syr Daria and approach to Tashkent Great fertility
The two cities and societies Political banishment General
Bosenbach and the Peace Policy Native Education Government House Public buildings Ancient or native city General
Statistics of population- -Besources, manuPrjevalski and Lhasa
garrison
kent
Population
The Tarantass
factures
and commerce
expenditure
The
Zttrufshan
valley
System of government
Bevenue and
Territorial expansion of Bussia.
BOKHARA is about 150 miles by rail from Samarkand,

,
ana the only two important points en route are the
.
Bokliaran fortress of Kermineh, which the railway

skirts at a distance of five miles, and the Eussian
205
Katta Kurgan, where we enter the

Zerafshan province, annexed by Eussia in 1868, after
the war with Bokhara that resulted in the capture of
frontier post of
A very wise step
Samarkand.
this
was
for the basin
of the Zerafshan river, or Gold Strewer, the Polytimetus, or Very Precious, of the Greeks, which extends
250 miles between
about
for
mountains,
is
ranges of
a veritable garden of Eden, and incom-
parably the most
fertile
parallel
1
part of Central Asia.
The
I append the latest statistics relating to the Zerafshan river and

from a paper by V. Dingelstedt, published in the Scottish
basin, taken
Geographical Magazine for December 1888, and based upon Russian,

semi-official reports (Turkestanslcia Vedomosti, 1887, Nos.85 and 44
1888, Nos. 5, 6, 18, 14, 15. Middendorf Ocherki Fergliany, St. Peters';
burg, 1887.
lakes where
'
The total length of the Zerafshan, from
its
source to the
420 miles, of which

the upper part for 286 miles belongs to Russian Turkestan, and the
remaining, or lower part, to Bokhara. The basin which the river drains
is estimated at about 14,875 square miles, of which 7,285 square miles
it
loses itself, is estimated at about
are level, and 7,090 square miles are mountainous country, where the
river excavates a deep channel, extracting the fertilising material which
so much enhances its value.
Some distance above Samarkand the
two branches, the Ak Daria and the Kara Daria,

which re-unite about thirteen miles below the town, near the frontier
of Bokhara. Here is the intake of the principal Bokharan canal, the
Karaman, which conducts away the greater part of the water remaining in the river after it has fed all the numerous canals in Russian
river divides into
Turkestan. During the rest of its course the river continually decreases
in bulk, in consequence of the numerous canals that issue from it on
the right and left banks alternately, and runs for about eighty miles
preserving the name Zerafshan; but at Du-aba (Two Waters) the
greater part of its water is diverted into the canal called Shah-rud,
and the little that remains of the Zerafshan runs under the name of
Kara Kul
Kul.
about sixty-two miles in the direction of the town of Kara

miles above the town the river breaks up into two arms,
for
Two
the Kara Kul and the Taghi-Kyr. Some twenty miles before reaching
the Amu Daria, the now nearly exhausted but still muddy waters of
the Zerafshan flow into the marshy lakes of Denghis, Sunghur, and
Karanga, which have no outlet.

The level of the water in the Zerafshan is variable it is lowest
during winter and highest in July, the volumes in the two cases being
'
206
country
is
laid out less frequently in fields than in
orchards, producing grapes,
figs,
peaches, mulberries,
apricots, almonds, plums, pomegranates, apples,
and
and giving a return seven times more profitBranches of the

able than that from agriculture.
pears,
Zerafshan, or canals dug from the main stream, form

a network over the face of the land, upon which the
eye traces their coiirse in lines of osier and willow,

The wealth
separating brilliant parterres of green.
of this natural El
Dorado
is
entirely water-derived
and water-fed, and depends upon a system of canalisation that is described by Arab historians as having
prevailed unchanged in the ninth century A.D., the
origin of which is fixed by many before the Christian
and which by some has even been thought
era,
to vie
in 'antiquity with the kindred system in Egypt.
Bokharan
mgation
do not propose here
^ ê B o
]c}
to give a detailed
account
iaran irrigation works, because this
is
subject that has already fully, and perhaps more

Its most
properly, been dealt with in other works.
curious feature to the eyes of a stranger is the extent to which, in spite of Eussian influence and
a twenty
years'
methods are
still
possession,
pursued.
native
tradition
and
The Russians made some
The minimum discharge in December, January, and

20.
February is estimated at 1,000 to 1,300 cubic feet per second in June,
July, and August, after the melting of the snows, the maximum is
from 19,000 to 22,000 cubic feet per second. The mean discharge for
the summer half-year is 14,810, and for the winter half-year 2,718, or
for the whole year 8,764 cubic feet per second. This volume of water
as 1
employed in the irrigation (exclusive of the province of Ferghana)

of an area of about 287 square miles, of which about 115 are in the
province of Samarkand, and 172 in the Khanate of Bokhara.
is
207
remodel the entire system on more

modern and scientific lines and a Eussian official,
effort at first to
assisted
by
native experts,
is still
responsible for the
province of Samarkand. On the whole, however, it

has been found best to leave alone both the existing
machinery, which depends in the
resort
last
upon
and the
the cultivators of the
popular election
soil,
by
immemorial methods, which, though devised without
scientific appliances or knowledge of hydraulics, have
yet been conceived with extreme ingenuity and are
passably adapted to
this
fulfil
their purpose.
In Bokhara
system leads to a good deal of abuse
Mirab, or
'
Lord of the waters/ who
is
for the
appointed to
administer the water supply of a particular district,

is neither an engineer nor an
expert, but commonly
who owes his

Boman Verres,
a Court nominee,
selection to favourit-
ism, and, like a
does his best to con-
vert his tenure of office into a policy of insurance

1
The
however, before quoted, give a most unfavourand may compel the Russian Government to take action.
The construction of canals in the Zerafshan province,
They say
though not without some boldness both in design and execution, is
generally defective the canals are tortuous, too numerous, and liable
to burst and overflow. The intakes of the canals are simply cuttings
official reports,
able verdict,
'
in the banks, dammed up occasionally by very unsubstantial weirs of

any fragile material near at hand. The cleaning and the general
maintenance of the canals is most unsatisfactory, as they are allowed
to be obstructed by rubbish of every kind. The whole system of irrigation is a very primitive one
all
the constructions to raise, dam, let
out, carry, distribute, and gauge the water are of the most simple description, and are built of materials close at hand, such as earth, fascines,
The
stakes, branches, sand, gravel, and sometimes rough stones.
administration of the canals in Samarkand lies, as a rule, in the hands
of deputies chosen by the people. There are many abuses which the
Bussian Government is endeavouring to remove, but the whole question
has proved as yet too complicated and delicate to be dealt with satisfactorily.'
RUSSIA 7Ar CEXTRAL ASIA
208
Nevertheless it is said
against future contingencies.
that the people most interested, viz. the cultivators
of the
soil,
are satisfied, and that any attempt to en-
force a different, even
if
a more technical, system
would lead
Danger
the city
to
to mutiny.
In the territory
J of Bokhara the extent of the
irrigation works may be estimated from the fact that
...
the Zerafshan river has forty-three principal canals

diverted from the parent stream, with a total length
of not less than 600 miles, in addition to eighty-three
similar
main canals
well as
in the
as
939 branch canals conducted from them.
The breadth of the canals
They
Samarkand province,
varies from six to sixty feet.
and meandering,
are not straight, but sinuous
1
As regards the adminisVide the testimony of the same reports
tration of natural as well as artificial water-courses in Bokhara, it is,
notwithstanding the vital importance of water to the land, quite de*
Not only are ability and knowledge wanting, but, what is

worse, there are many persons interested, rather than otherwise, in
retaining abuses and disorder, these being elements highly favourable
At the head of the water administo the exercise of arbitrary power.
plorable.
Bokhara is placed the mirab, a powerful personage chosen

by the Amir himself from his immediate followers, against whose deThe mirab acts through
cision there is no legal appeal whatever
pendjabegs, authorised to give orders in his name, and chosen out of
the members of his own family. The people are represented by arbobs
and their assistants jurnban, \vho are deputed by the proprietors of the
soil (or rather occupiers, for there is no private property in land in
tration in
Bokhara) to defend the interests of cultivators. In reality these deputies are simply tools in the hands of the administration
they are constrained to execute the orders of the mirab and his assistants, and it is
only by means of bribery and astuteness that they can succeed in
serving their constituents. In Bokhara, as compared with Samar;
may be said therefore to reign supreme ; and the deficiency

of the land, as well as the dependence on outside authorities, places the work in a condition which cannot but tell in a highly
unfavourable manner on the state of agriculture, and on the sanitary
kand, abuse
in the
fall
condition of the country in general.'
209
often forming ravines and gullies, and generally oc-
cupying far more space than

to conduct water.
is
speedily rectified
Any
is
absolutely necessary
inequality of distribution
upon the
frantic complaints of
the suffering or imperilled districts

fortunate or better provided have
and the more
their supplies
or
for
the relief of
curtailed
temporarily arrested
It is said, notwithstanding,
their destitute brethren.
that Bokhara, being lower down the stream than

Samarkand, is the loser in any partition, however
fairly carried out, and that owing to the steadily
diminishing supply from the uplands, the oasis

being contracted, and is yearly ceding some of
is
its
fringes to the implacable encroachment of the dunes.

Certain it is, that cities and oases within twenty miles
of the capital have been so overtaken and destroyed,

and that the sand-flood is advancing rather than retreating.
There are some who see in
this
movement
a sentence of impending doom against Bokhara, and

proclaim that the handwriting is already upon the
wall.
If those
who
live
upon the spot take a
less
pessimistic view, it may be because they know that

its realisation will not occur in their time, or that
they have confidence, both in the schemes of forestry

and water-storage which the Russians have to some
extent taken in hand, and in the last emergency in
the resources of science, to save them from so grim
a consummation.
Greater unity as well as competence of admiiiistration are reforms, apart from more economical and
scientific
methods, which
it is
well within the
power
Possible
reorma
210
of Russia to introduce.
more equable system of
land taxation would follow next upon the programme

and from neither need any result, other than favour;
be anticipated, while regard could be had in

both cases to the prejudices and prescriptions of the
able,
natives.
The Samarkand
tion
and
.. .
district,
..
which we now
..
enter,
fertility of
contains, according to the latest statistics,
kanddiH-
area of 24,184 square vcrsts, a population of 404,985

inhabitants, of whom 452,844 are natives, 9,397
upon an
Russians, 2,053 Jews, 81 Hindus, and 10 non-Russian
The bulk of
Europeans.
in the big towns, are

ticulture.
We may
the soil and the
from the
the people, not congregated

engaged in agriculture or hor-
infer the marvellous fertility of
alluvial
bounty of the Zerafshan

sometimes raised
fact that three

crops are
from the same plot in one year: (1) the winter crop
of wheat, barley, rye, or clover, sown in November
and reaped in the early spring; (2) the spring crop of
maize, rice, sorghum, or cotton, sown in the spring
and reaped in the early autumn and (3) the autumn
;
crop of turnips, carrots, or millet, sown in September

or October and gathered in November.
Clover can
or six times in the year. 1
Through
and
amid
of
which
these
stascenery
surroundings
be cut
tistics
Hmtory
mar"
kand
five
may have
furnished, not a picture but an
bration, the
traveller approaches the
and romantic
city in Central Asia,
adum-
most famous
Samarkand.
Of the history of Samarkand the Maracanda of

the Macedonians, the Samokien of the Buddhist pilUnsere Zeit, October 1888.
SAMARKAND AND TASHKKNT
211
grim Hiouen Tsang, the Sinnar Margo of Sir John

Mandevillc, the favourite and also the final restingplace of Timur, the capital, with 1 50,000 inhabitants,
of Sultan Baber, the combined Athens and Delphi of
I shall here say nothing.
the remote East
historical allusions
have been
Whatever
justified in treating of
other and less widely known places, are superfluous

in the mention of a spot that has long been dear not
only to the informed zeal of the student, but to the
cultured intelligence of the world.

Neither shall I feel justified in giving more than
a cursory account 01 the great monuments that once
'
the glory, and that still, in their

the wonder, of the Asiatic continent.
made Samarkand
ruin, leave
it
main been so well and conscientiously described in Schuyler's and other writings,
and, beyond the march of further decay, have altered
so little since their date, that were I to linger over
details I might be convicted of recapitulating badly
what had been excellently said before. The illustrations which are appended will give my readers some
They have
in
the
idea of their present condition while such remarks

as I shall venture to make upon them will be the in;
dependent suggestions of the writer's observation.

The very purport of this book, already, I fear, some-
what strained in the chapter upon the

compels me
to turn aside, with
city of
Bokhara,
whatever reluctance,
from the splendours of the ancient to the more

modest but still appreciable attractions of the modern
town.
The present terminus of the railway
at
Samarkand
fcioii
of
212
a scene of great activity
The
is
town
and
offices
were,
when
for the station buildings
I visited them,
still
in the
hands of the masons and had not yet readied the
first
story.
road I
broad but dusty road, the first metalled

had seen east of the Caspian, planted on both
sides with avenues of poplars, runs for a distance of
nearly three miles to the Russian town.
This
delightful quarter, completely buried in trees,
is
from
which peep out the white fronts of low one-storied

houses, and is intersected at right angles by boulevards of enormous width overshadowed by lines of
poplars and acacias, and bordered by rivulets of run-
ning water. The principal street is planted with as

many as twelve parallel rows of trees, on either side
of the carriage drive, the footpaths, and the brawling
streams.
From an elevation no buildings are visible,
and
the
Russian town might be mistaken for a
From the earliest times this

thickly wooded park.
side of Samarkand has been celebrated for its wealth
of trees and verdure, and for
sylvan retreats, the

favourite residence in bygone days of Tartar nobles,
just as they now are of Russian generals and colonels.
its
In the tenth century Ibn Haukal
left
on record that
There are here many villas and orchards, and very few of
the palaces are without gardens, so that if a person should
go to the Kohendiz, and from that look around, he would
find that the villas and palaces were covered, as it were, with
trees; and even the streets and shops and banks of the
streams are all planted with trees.
And
in 1404,
kand when
Don Ruy de
Clavijo, visiting
at the height of its glory
Samar-
under Timur,

wrote
this interesting
concise description
though perhaps
213
insufficiently
surrounded on all sides by many gardens and

which
extend in somo directions a league and a
vineyards,
half, in others two leagues, the city being in the. middle.
Among these gardens there are great and noble houses, and
The
city is
here the lord
(i.e.
Timur) has several palaces.
The nobles of
the city have their houses amongst these gardens, and they
are so extensive, that when a man approaches the city he sees
nothing but a mass of very high trees. Many streams of

water flow through the city and through these gardens, and
these gardens there are many cotton-plantations and
melon-grounds, and the melons of this ground are good and
among
and at Christmas-time there

melons and grapes.
plentiful;
tity of
Embowered here and
is
a wonderful quan-
amid these agreeable

modern
surroundings
buildings of
some pretentiousness and importance. Of these the
there
are to be seen
largest are the Governor's house, standing in a fine
park the military club, similarly situated, and the

Russian church with blue star-bespangled domes.
;
There are also some public gardens containing a lake.
and monotony of appearance may

perhaps be charged against the Russian Samarkand.
But compared with other places I had seen it was
almost a paradise and if life there be regarded as
exile, at least it can be no insupportable burden.
certain primness
The climate
1
is
delicious,
the elevation above the sea
The mean annual temperature of Samarkand is 16 (Reaumur)

month is 30", and of the coldest month 0. The
;
that of the hottest
average rainfall
Cairo.
is
sixty days in the year, or double as
many
as at
Modern
214
is
considerable
and there
over 2,000 feet
is
civilised socic! y.
Here, however, as elsewhere, the railway is effectn most ex! r:i( >nl ii n IT change.
Tolerable though
\
Samarkand under the

old conditions, it was yet very remote, more remote even limn Tashkent, through which place it
exist
cure
may have been
at
was commonly approached from
the
north.
The
UOYKUSOM'S HOUSE AT SAMARKAND.
post took nearly a
burg.
mouth
telegram
to
in
arriving from
Bokhara,
only
St.
150
Peters-
miles
was obliged to describe a circuit of many

thousands of miles by Tashkent, Orenburg, Samara,
Moscow, and Baku, and verv likely did not reach its
distant,
destination for days.
lar-oIT
echo of the great
world dimly permeated months afterwards to the

banks of the Zerafshan. like the faint murmur in the

hollow of a
sea-shell.
215
General Aimeukoff s railway

It has completed the work
has changed all this.

which a twenty years' occupation had previously set in
train. Already the old times, when a Bokharan Amir
took his seat upon the Koktash, and when a desperate

attempt was made to entrap and massacre the Russian
garrison in the citadel, have lapsed from memory
and the present generation of Uzbeg and Tajik can
remember no other dominion but that of the
Ouroussi, which has thereby acquired the stamp of

eternal fitness, and become stereotyped in the
Samarkand may be looked upon as

absolutely Russian, if not in part European more
fatalist's creed.
Russian certainly than Benares is English, and far

more European than is Peshawur.
A rumour
is
from time
to time circulated in the Absurd
rumour
European newspapers that the Amir of Bokhara is

about to apply to Russia for the reddition of Samar-
kand
and
it
has even been stated that this was the
object of a complimentary embassy recently (March

1889) sent by Seid Abdul Ahad to the Czar. It is
true that years ago, before the Russian position in
Central Asia was as stable as it has since become,
and when the apprehensions of Europe required to

be calmed, declarations were made by Russia of her
and
intention to restore the city to its native rulers
;
as
late
as
1870
Prince Gortchakoff assured Sir
Andrew Buchanan,
Petersburg, that
restore
some
'
it
Samarkand
difficulty in
Ambassador
the British
was the
to
at St.
desire of the
Bokhara
Emperor to
but that there was
ascertaining IIOAV this
could b
of
216
(lone without a loss of

dignity and without obtaining
guarantees for the welfare of the population which
had accepted the sovereignty of
Russia.'
necessary to say that there never
It is
was the
un-
slightest
intention of carrying out such an engagement, which

if a Russian
diplomat alone could have given, an
also
English diplomat
Still less is
now.
The
citadel
would alone have believed.
there any likelihood of such an absurdity

one of the colossal mare's nests
Its revival is
discovered by the Russian Press.

At the end of the street in which stands the
humble lodgment that presumed
at the period of my
a Gastinitsa, or hotel, loom up
against the sky the gigantic walls and leaning towers
of the three big medresses facing upon the
Righistan,
visit
to
call
itself
or public square, of the city of Tamerlane.

cities, ancient and modern, are, however,
The two
separated
by a bare stony hill, once occupied by the fortress

and palace of the sovereign. Its walls have now
been almost entirely demolished and in their
place
are to be seen the trim outline and modern fortifica;
tions of the Russian citadel.
which
is
entered
Within
by a drawbridge
this building,
across a moat,
is
preserved part of the Amir's former palace and

here at the end of a court surrounded by an
open
colonnade l is to be seen, behind an iron
railing, the
still
Koktash, or coronation-stone, of the Timurid sovereigns, the Central Asian equivalent to the West-
minster slab from Scone.
This celebrated object has
an excellent illustration of this court on p. 199 of Mme. de

Ujfalvy-Bourdon's De Paris a Samarkand (1880) as also an accurate
map of Samarkand on p. 177.
1
There
is
217
been elaborately described by Schuyler andLansdell.

It is a mistake, however, to suppose that it always or
has long reposed here. Timur's palace was some distance
away
to the west
to the citadel
and the Kolctaah was
by one of the
shifted
Bokharan Amirs
later
in
this century.
In another part of the citadel was the Zindan, or

prison, where, at the time of the Russian occupation,
Zindan,or
prison
a subterranean dungeon existed like those to which

allusion has been made at Bokhara and Karshi.
Prisoners were let
down
into
by ropes
it
and the
grooves which these had worn were visible in the

stone lining of the top.
How
universal a
method of
punishment this has always been throughout the East

may be illustrated both by the parallel of Jerusalem
the seventh century B.C., when Jeremiah ' was let
down with cords into the dungeon of Malchiah that
ill
was
in the court of the prison
and
in the
dungeon
was no water, but mire so Jeremiah sunk in
the mire
and by that of Cairo under the Mamluks,
where a similar pit, filled with vermin, and emitting
noisome odours, was filled up in 1829 A.D.
there
'
Beyond the
citadel,
and on the other
side of a The
ancient
Samarkand covers
and from a dusty
slight valley, the native or ancient
slope of a broad elevation,

wilderness of flat roofs lifts up the glories of
the
its mighty
and
glazed
college gateways,
glittering arches, its
leaning minarets, and its ribbed and enamelled
domes. On the right hand, above a garden of fruitits
trees,
emerges the cupola that overhangs the

1
Jer. xxxviii. 6.
last
city
IX CEXTHAL ASIA
218
resting-place of the great conqueror himself.
In the
ccnl re of the landscape arc the three huge medresses

or universities that frame the noblest public square
On llie left are lie portentous ruins of
in the world.
I
and mosque of Hibi Khanynt, the Chinese

wife of Timur, and at a little greater distance is the
(he
///fW/r.v.sr
exquisite cluster of
mosques and mausoleums, raised
GUU AMIR,
in
l>y
honour of
a saint
Oil
TOMH OF TAMKHLANK.
whose immolt< dit^'

t
is
(expressed
of Shah Xindeli, or the Living King.

lew words may he permitted ahout each of these.
the
The
title
Mir Amir, or
Tomb of Tamerlane,
is
both from
and the romantic point of view -the most

Here in 1405 the
interesting ruin of Samarkand.
of
the
with musk and
embalmed
body
conqueror,
the historic
rose-water, and
wrapped
in
linen, Avas
laid
in
an
219
and deposited beneath the engraved

tombstone that we still behold in the vault.
The
ebony
coffin,
interest of travellers
centrated
upon
seems usually to have been con-
the upper
chamber of the mausoleum,
where, after the Eastern fashion, a series of cenotaphs,

corresponding to the actual sepulchres below, are
The most noteworthy of

disposed upon the floor.
these, covered with a block of greenish-black stone,
said to be nephrite or jade,
slab has evidently at
is
The
that of Timur.
some time been wrenched from
place and broken in twain though it is not certain

whether the fracture is to be attributed, as the legend
its
runs,
to
Around
an
attempted violation by Nadir
the walls of the
tomb chamber
is
Shah.
a wainscot-
ing of hexagonal slabs of stone, variously described
by
travellers as agate, jasper,

is
nearest the
The
and gypsum.
mark
last
for they are of that
designation
species of alabaster, somewhat transparent in texture,
but with an under-colour like the sea waves, that is
;
frequently met with in Oriental

familiar
to
original tiles
have
countries,
and
is
Algeria and Eg^ pt. The

and decorations have been stripped or
visitors
in
from the upper part of the walls and,

speaking generally, the entire fabric, which is in a
sadly dilapidated and ruined condition, is disappointfallen
ing to those
tions,
who approach
it
with
artistic
expecta-
and cannot be compared with the majestic
sepulchres of the later Moguls in India, such as the

mausoleum of Akbar the Great at Sikundra. Never-
has a certain attraction not perhaps

unconnected with its lamentable decay. Though I
theless, the place
220
do not pretend
to understand the impulse that drives
pilgrims in shoals to the graves of the departed great,
something inspiring, even if it be a

melancholy inspiration, in standing above the dust of
one who was both a king among statesmen and a
yet there
is
statesman among kings, whose deeds even at this

distance of time alike astonish and appal, and whose
monumental handiwork, still surviving around, a later

and more civilised age has never attempted to equal,
and has barely availed
The
Bighifltan
to rescue
from utter ruin.
We
next pass to the Righistan, or centre of the

_
7
town, and to its triple glory ot medresses, or religious
.
colleges, those of
Ulug
Iteg, the
grandson of Timur
(1421), of Shir Dar, or the Lion-bearing (1601)
from
called
its
bearing in enamelled
the Persian lion
tiles
on
so
its facade
and of Tillah Kari, or the Gold-
covered (1C18) so named because of the gilding that

once adorned its face. I have hazarded the statement
that the Righistan of
world.
it
Samarkand was
know
and
originally,
even iu its ruin, the noblest public square
is stijtt
in the
of nothing in the East approaching
massive simplicity and grandeur
and nothing
Piazza di
perhaps on a humbler scale the

San Marco at Venice which can even aspire
to enter
the
in Europe, save
competition.
No European
spectacle
indeed can adequately be compared with it, in our

inability to point to an open space in any Western
city that
is
commanded on
three of
its
Gothic cathedrals of the finest order.

that the
is
both in
medresse of Central Asian

its
architectural scope
four sides
For
it is
by
clear
Mahometanism
and design a
lineal
Q
(A
221
counterpart and forerunner of the minster of the

West. Instead of the intricate sculpture and tracery
crowning the pointed archways of the Gothic front,
we
see the enamelled tiles of Persia, framing a portal
of stupendous magnitude.
For the flanking minster
towers or spires are substituted two soaring minarets.
The central lantern of the West is anticipated by the
Saracenic dome, and in lieu of
colour thrown
artificial
through tinted panes, from the open heavens shine

down the azure of the Eastern sky and the glory of
the Eastern sun.
What Samarkand must have been
prime when these great fabrics emerged from

the mason's hands, intact, and glittering .with all the
in its
effulgence of the rainbow, their chambers crowded

with students, their sanctuaries thronged by pilgrims,
and their corporations endowed by kings, the ima-
gination can still make some endeavour to depict.

Upon the structural features I shall confine myself
to three observations.
The minarets of
all
the me-
be
slightly out of the perpendicular,

those of the college of Ulug Beg, which, as has been
seen, is 200 years older than its fellows, conspicuously
dresses
appear to
In a locality which has frequently been shaken

by earthquakes, it surely needs no exceptional gifts
either of acuteness or credulity to attribute to natural
so.
causes an irregularity so extravagant that no Oriental

architect, whatever his taste for the unsymmetrical or
bizarre, could ever
have perpetrated
find competent writers exhausting
ness in
far-fetched interpretations.
the inclination
is
an optical
illusion.
And
it.
their
yet we
inventive-
Schuyler says
Mme.
Ujfalvy
Leaning
222
attributes
it
speaks of
it
to the skill of the builders.
as
an architectural tour de
M. Moser also
force.
Kres-
tovski suggests a religious meaning. But Dr. Lansdell

emerges triumphant from the competition of per-
ingenuity for, having ascended one of the

minarets himself, he proclaims the original discovery
verse
that there
Material of
structure
no inclination
is
Nowhere
at all
l
!
the influence of country, of climate,

and of natural resources upon architecture more nois
ticeable than in the buildings of
While
Samarkand.
and dryness of the atmosphere enabled
the mildness
the architect to dispense with many essentials of our

Northern styles, on the other hand the poverty of local
resources compelled him to go far afield for his decoration, and to be content with brick as his staple material.
Persian artificers seem to have been almost exclusively

employed upon the structures of Samarkand and the
;
by which they were emprobability been burnt and glazed
wonderful enamelled
bellished
had
in Persian
in all
ovens.
accomplishing at the
tiles
What
Eastern architects were

same time with richer means at
may be
seen in the mosques and mausoleums of the Mahometan conquerors of Hindostan.

their disposal,
Timur,
it is
true,
was antecedent by a century and a
1
It is, however, in speaking of the medresse of Tillah Kari that Dr.
Lansdell achieves his greatest masterpiece. He says (Russian Central
Asia, vol. i. 587), The wall of the Kibleh, or niche, where is supposed
*
to be the
Imaum
(or
image, called Miklirab^ that presents
itself to
the
Moslem mind in prayer), is gilded. Now, as everyone knows, in a

mosque the Milirdb is the prayer-niche (corresponding to the Christian
1
Kibla
the orientation of the niche, or direction of Mecca,

or preacher, invited to read the lessons
or to preach from the mimbar (pulpit) in the Friday service.
apse), the
and the
is
Imam is the lay-reader
H
M
s
w

half to his descendants
223
Humayun and Akbar, whose
But
glorious erections we see at Agra and Delhi.
the Shir Dar and Tillah Kari medresses were almost
exactly synchronous with the fabrics of Jehangir and
Shah Jehan, with the Agran tomb of Itmad-ud-Dowlah,
with the Pearl Mosque, loveliest of private chapels,

and with that most perfect of
in the citadel at Delhi,
tributes ever raised to a lost love, the Taj
the banks of the Jumna.

clime,
Mahal on
There, in the southern
amid the abundant wealth and resources of
Ilindostan, the architect's taste
was not
satisfied witli
anything short of marble and precious stones. Artists
must even be imported from Europe

riant elegance of Florentine detail
is
and the luxu-
wedded
to the
august symmetry of Saracenic forms,

Nevertheless it is in the magnificent
simplicity
fe
l
J
11
and solemn proportion of the latter that the edifices

of Samarkand remain without a rival.
Differing cirt
cumstances in the different countries overrun by the
Arabs
of previous styles, local and

climatic conditions, the genius of individual masters,
the influence
or the traditions of particular schools produced a

wide variety of types, from the royal palace of Delhi
to that of Granada, from the shrines of Shiraz and
Meshed to the chapels of Palenno, from the mosques

of Damascus and Cairo to those of Cordova and
Kairwhan. In some places majestic outline, in others
was the object or the achievement of
Fancy was here subordinated to funda-
intricate detail,
the
artist.
mental canons, was there allowed to run riot in comBut it cannot be doubted that the
plicate involution.
Samples
the best
Arabian
style
of
224
true and essential character of the Saracenic

style
is
grandeur rather than in delicacy, in

It was by the
chastity rather than in ornament.
of
the
and
artistic treatgreat masses,
grouping
by
expressed
in
ment of simple
lines, that
life.
Arab
architects
first
impressed their genius upon the world and in this

respect no more stately product of their talent can
;
IU-INS OK BIBI
KilANYM At SAMUtKAM).
anywhere he round than in the

ments of tlie city of Tamerlane.
JKlmnym
half-fallen
monu-.
The remaining ruins 1 must dismiss briefly. The

most imposing remains at Samarkand, in bulk and
dimensions, are undeniably the inedresse and mosque
of Hibi
Khanynu
the Chinese consort of Timur,
whom
the courtly Don liny designated as ' Cano, the chief

Aviie of the (Jreat I.oi'd.'
'.riievare said to have been
SAMARKAND AND TAS1IKKXT
225
by the royal lady and her illusit was this

mosque that Timur
caused to be pulled down as soon as it was finished,
because the entrance was too low, and whose rebuilderected respectively
trious spouse
and
from a
ing he superintended with imperious energy
litter.
What these buildings once were we can only
faintly
realise
by
the
aid
of the colossal piles of
INTERIOR OF THE MKDKKSSK OF HIBI KHANYM.
masonry that
still
stand,
and that tower above the
other ruins of Samarkand as high as do the vaulted

arches of Constantino's Basilica over the southern
end of the Forum
at
the ruined enclosure
Eome.
is
The only
perfect relic in
the vast rahle, or lectern, which
stands on nine low columns in the centre and which
once bore in
its
V-shaped
This has survived, Ixvjiiise
cleft
it
is
a ponderous Koran.
of marble instead of
226
and therefore was too heavy for any conqueror

to transport, and too solid for any vandal to destroy.
The remaining parts of the building are slowly and
brick,
steadily falling to ruin ; and in time, unless steps are

taken to arrest the process, will become a shapeless
shah
heap of bricks.
The cluster of mosques and chapels with seven
small cupolas, that bear the
name
of the Living King

its eponymous saint having been a near relative of
the Prophet, who was martyred here in early times,
and who
supposed to be lurking witli his decapitated head in his hand at the bottom of a well,
is
although with curious inconsistency his coffined

body is also an object of worship in the same building is both the most perfect and the most graceful
ruin unfortunately it
of the ruins of Samarkand.
is
for
domes have
and
defaced,
collapsed, inscriptions
the
But
perished.
lead
that
steps
still,
have been
most exquisite enamelling has

as
we mount
the thirty-seven
upwards between narrow
walls, at
masonry there open out small recessed mosques and tomb chambers with faultless
honeycomb groining, executed in moulded and
intervals in the
coloured
tiles.
Gladly would I expatiate upon the
beauty of these Samarkandian
tiles
turquoise and
and
plum-coloured and orange,
sapphire and green
crusted over with a rich siliceous glaze, and inscribed
with mighty Kufic letters by which these glorious

structures were once wholly and are still in part
adorned.
But
it
is
more relevant
to point out that
beyond
XJ
MA UK A XI)
A XI)
TASIIKKXT
'I'll
having patched up the most glaring traces of dilapi- NYM,,!-,

elation and made a few attempts, with deplorable tiM-'ivHt-ivatiou
results, to replace destroyed ornament, the Imssians of Ancient
Molm
have done nothing, and are doing nothing, whatever nu;nt8
.
IT-
preserve these sacred relics either from wanton

demolition or from natural decay; and that, what
to
with the depredations of vandals, the shock of earth-
quakes,
and the lapse of time, the
visitor
in
the
MAUSOM-:rM OF SHAH ZINDKH.
twentietli century
may
find
cause to enquire with
resentful surprise what has become of the fabled

grandeurs of the old Samarkand.
Society for the
Preservation of Ancient Aronmnents should at once

be formed in Russian Central Asia, and a custodian
should be appointed to each of the more important,
But
which can hardly be expected from a Government which has never, outside
of Russia, shown the faintest interest in antiquarian
ruins.
this is a step
228
preservation or research, and which would

the crack of doom upon a site that was
sit still till
known
to
contain the great bronze Athene of Fheidias, or the

lost works of Livy.
While
sunset
Samar-
at
visiting the
Shah Zindeh,
was the
fortu-
n a te witness of one of those rare sunsets that are

sometimes visible in the East, and which, though
they cannot compete with the troubled grandeur of
our Western skies, are yet incomparable in their
tranquil glory.
The northern outside wall of Shah Zindeh

bordered by a Mussulman necropolis, which
is
is
as
lugubrious and desolate-looking a spot as cemeteries
Mahometan
countries usually are.

Broken pillars,
and
desecrated
brick vaults
displaced tombstones,
As we stood in
litter the drab and dusty surface.
in
one of the elevated courts overlooking the boundarywall, we observed a funeral proceeding on the other
The corpse was brought up lying loosely on a

side.
kind of open bier which resembled a sofa, and was
presently tumbled without much ceremony into a
ditch which had been prepared in the sandy soil.
There was a large attendance of mourners, all males,
who
appeared to take an inquisitive interest in the

proceedings, but there was no show of grief or
attempt at a service.
stairway,
Climbing
we emerged on
still
higher up the
the hill behind the tomb-
chamber of the saint. The sun was just sinking

and it was one of those superb evenings only known
in the East, when for a few seconds, amid a hush as
of death, we seem to realise
:
The
light that never
was on sea or land
229
moment
the twilight rushes down with

violet wings, and all nature swoons in her embrace.
In the short space of preternatural luminousness that
and then
in a
preceded, the broken edge of the Penjakent mountains

cut the sky like blue steel and seemed to sever the
Zerafshan valley from the outer world. Inside the

magic circle described by their lofty shapes a splendid
belt of trees plunged momentarily into a deeper and
more solemn green, contrasting
vividly with
the
purple of the mountain background. The middle

space was filled by the colossal arches and riven domes
of Bibi
Khanym, which loomed up above

and pathos of
city in all the majesty

ruin.
hills
the native
irretrievable
Below and all around, a waste of grey sandwas encumbered with half-fallen tombstones
and mouldering graves. Here and there a horsehair

plume, floating from the end of a rickety pole,
betrayed the last resting-place of a forgotten sheikh
or saint.
The only evidence of life was supplied by
the horses of the mourners, themselves out of sight
moment, which were picketed amid the waste

of graves. Presently round the corner of the mosque
at the
emerged the long line of turbanod Orientals, grave

and silent. Each mounted his beast without speaking a word and rode away. At that instant a band
of turquoise blue seemed to encircle the horizon
to flush
and
upwards towards the zenith, where light
amber skeins hung entangled like the filaments of

a golden veil. As these drifted apart and lost the
the
transient glory;
as
sapphire and died
down
turquoise
into
dusk
deepened into
as first the belt
230
of trees and then the outer belt of mountains was

.wiped out, a long cry trembled through the breathless void.
It was the voice of the muezzin from a
neighbouring minaret, summoning
the
faithful
to
evening prayer.
I
was
told
on high authority
the Russian garrison consisted
at
Samarkand
that
entirely of Cossack
I
regiments, and amounted to a total of 10,000 men.
doubted this statement from the first, because of the
absence of any sign of such large numbers and the

lack of motive for keeping so powerful a force at such
a place and my suspicions were subsequently justified
;
that there was only half that total of

one Cossack regiment and three
but
men, including
batteries of artillery.
Here, as elsewhere, I found it
by the discovery
excessively difficult to reconcile the conflicting uttermy different informants, each of whom might
ances of
have imparted correct information if he had been

able or willing to do so.
I say
able because I
6
'
ended by forming the opinion that one of the commonest features of Russian character is a constitutional
Population
incapacity for exactitude of statement.

The population of Samarkand is
about 40,000 persons, of
whom the Europeans number
6,000, while there are as
bazaars struck
estimated at
many
as 1,500 Jews.
The
me
as greatly inferior in every way to

those of Bokhara, and there was a marked contrast
respects between the native life of the two

the
one still independent, the other Russian for
cities,
in
many
In Samarkand the urban population,

or Sarts, as they are here called, were much more
twenty years.

humbly and shabbily dressed
there
231
was no evidence
of wealth or dignity or leisure, and the street sights
were generally squalid and uninteresting. Even the

native bazaar has been thoroughly transformed under
Eussian rule, large blocks of crooked alleys having
been swept away to make place for broad boulevards
converging from the different points of the compass
upon the Righistan. In driving the latter in straight
TCHAESU, OR BAZAAR, AT SAMARKAND.
through the heart of the city, the Russians have

been unconsciously following an example set them
nearly 500 years a$o by their great forerunner
lines
Tamerlane
for again
we owe
to the agreeable
gossip
Ambassador of King Henry III. of

the knowledge that
The lord (i.e. Timur)
of the Spanish
Castile
'
ordered a street to be made through the city, pulling

down all houses that stood in the line, a street very
broad and covered with a vaulted
roof,
and windows
232
from one end of the city to the
to let in the light

other.'
Refuge
5
of
exiles
Samarkand has, as I have indicated, more than

once been made the residence of important political
refugees, whom it was to the interest of Eussia to
Abdurrahman
conciliate, to watch, or to entertain.
Khan, the present Amir of Afghanistan, w as here for
many years, and during his residence married a slave
girl from Wakhan, who had already become the
T
mother of
his
two
eldest surviving sons.
Is-hak, the recent pretender,
who had
His cousin
fled
upon the triumph of Shir Ali, shared his

Samarkand, and returned in his company
with him
exile at
in 1880,
receiving as the reward of his assumed fidelity the

governorship of Afghan Turkestan. Both of them
are said to have
left
Samarkand with a
less favour-
able opinion of their hosts than that with which they

oame, and to have roundly abused the Russians after-
wards
though the attitude of Is-hak may be preto have changed, now that he is
sumed once more
again dependent upon their hospitality, and possibly

expects in the future to be indebted to them for a
throne.
I could not discover that at the time of
visit there
city,
were any of these interesting
though a rumour
my
exiles in the
denied as soon as uttered
of the return of Is-hak to his old quarters was
already in circulation.
journey to
While
Samarkand the chance was presented

to me of making under the best auspices a visit to
Tashkent.
Though the distance between the two
190 miles and can only be
places is considerable
at
233
covered by road, I eagerly grasped this opportunity

of forming even a slight acquaintance with the capital
of Russia in the East
being anxious to observe
the visible effects of a dominion that has

for over
lasted
twenty years, to acquaint myself with the
rumoured
ideas that are

circles,
now
and to contrast
to prevail in
its
Court
life
its
military
and etiquette
I
with the analogous British regime at Calcutta.
also wished to form some opinion as to the feasibility
of an extension of the Transcaspian line from the

Zerafshan province into Turkestan.
It
was not
till
was well on
my way
to
Tashkent
how great, from the most selfish and

personal point of view, the advantages of that railway
had been. The luckless traveller condemned to the
that I realised
amenities of a tarantass across
the Golodnaya, or
Famished Steppe, hankers after the second-class carriages of General AnnenkofF as eagerly as did the
Israelites in similar
surroundings after the flesh-pots
of Egypt.
I know that it is the fashion of English
writers to decry, just as it is of Eussians to extol,
the tarantass but I must confess in this case to a
;
and honest share
in the prejudices of
my countrykind of ramshackle wooden boat, resting on

long wooden poles, which themselves repose on the
wooden axles of wooden wheels this is the sorrowful
full
men.
and springless vehicle in which two of us were to

travel 380 miles, and in which travellers have often
covered thousands. There is one advantage in the
fabrics being
breaks
down
entirely of
wood
namely, that
en route, as sooner or later
it is
if it
perfectly
The
anm
as
234
certain to do,
its
Too
difficulty.
repair can be effected without much

nicely pieced a structure would in-
deed be unsuited
travel
to the conditions of Central
for the vehicle
cross deserts,
is
now buried
Asian
required to ford rivers
and
mud, now plunging heavily

concussions, and to emerge
in
through sand, to resist

from mishaps that would dislocate any finer piece of
The Russians have reduced to a
workmanship.
science the subjugation of the tarantass
by means of
straw and mattresses
Englishman,
but the
less skilful
rough places where there is no road, is tossed

about like a cork on tumbled water. Fortunately,
in the
the remaining difficulties usually associated with such

a method of locomotion are here somewhat curtailed
;
a postal service along the road between

Samarkand and Tashkent, with relays of post-horses
for there
is
at the various stations, placed at distances of about
A Podorqjna
or special order,
must first be procured from the authorities. This
entitles the traveller to a change of horses at each
fifteen
station
miles apart.
though, even
intimation that
unfed or
still
all
so,
he
is
far
from
safe, for
the
the available horses are tired or
feeding,
which occurs from time
to time
with mathematical regularity, may compel him either

to wait half a day in a grim post-house in the middle
of an odious desert, or to hire whatever animals he
can procure from any well-disposed rustic possessing

a stable in the neighbourhood. The horses are harnessed to the tarantass in a troika
i.e.
three abreast
the middle horse between the shafts having its neck

held tightly up by a bearing-rein attached to a high

wooden arch
rising
above
its
235
head, while the outside
horses are not even confined within traces, but gallop

along in random fashion, with their heads, as a rule,
different
looking inquisitively round the corner.
driver, Tajik, or Uzbeg, or Kirghiz, each with unmis-
takable physiognomy, mounts the box at each posthouse, and at the end of his stage absorbs without
either gratitude or protest a modest gratuity.
The road
to Tashkent
roughly divided
IT
known as
mountain
the
by
is
into
r>
three sections
defile
the
Gates of Tamerlane and the main stream of the Syr

Daria or Jaxartes and the distances between its prin;
cipal points are as follows
Samarkand
to Jizak
Jizak to Tchinaz
Tchinax to Tashkent
Total
.65
.88
.42
Our outward journey occupied

cluding halts at the post-stations
upon which we
six.
Russian
suffered
100
thirty hours, in-
the return journey,
from scarcity of horses,
officers, travelling at
of speed, have covered

twenty-two hours.
miles
it
the
thirty-
maximum rate
in twenty-four
and even
in
on the north-east, we skirt

Leaving Samarkand
*
the hill Tchupan-Ata
once crowned by the great
of
observatory
Ulug Beg, but now by the white-
washed tomb of a
and pass
no great
distance from the mass of crumbling tumuli and
mounds that mark the site of an ancient city, associlocal saint
at
ated with the legendary hero Afrasiab, and supposed

to have been the predecessor of the Maracanda
Ruins of
Afrasiab
236
of the Greeks.
Heaps of rubbish arid the accumulations of centuries cover an immense extent,

not unlike the ruins of Fostat or Old Cairo.
Excavahave been pursued in a half-hearted and disjointed fashion by the Eussians, but no deliberate or
tions
made to explore whatever

and they must be manifold and
the ruins of Kaleh-i-Afrasiab can tell.
scientific effort
has been
secrets of the past
important
is ono of the
This
Bridge of
Slmdman-
many chances
of the future.
After traversing a succession of gardens

and
"
orchards, we come at the distance of a few miles
from Samarkand to the fords of the main stream of

the Zerafshan.
It courses swiftly
along over a very
stony bed, and was divided at this season of the year

into four or live channels, of which none were over
a foot and a half in depth.
banks
is,
however, several
The space between its

hundred yards in width
;
and in summer, when the snows in the mountains

melt,
is
for a short time filled
Hard by
by a raging
torrent.
ruins of two stupendous arches,

meeting at an obtuse angle, which are called ShadmanMelik by the natives, and which tower
magnificently
above the attenuated volume of the autumnal stream. 1
are the
Nothing is known of the authorship or date of these

huge remains but it is conjectured that, placed as
;
they are close to the spot where the Zerafshan divides

into two main streams
the Ak Daria or White Eiver,
and the Kara Daria or Black Eiver they originally

bridged the two channels at the angle of bifurcation.
Near the Zerafshan
1
For an
illustration of
in
them
this
vide
quarter
are
several
De Paris a Samarkand,
p. 172.
237
hundreds of acres that have been planted as a nursery

garden by the Bussians, and where are grown vines
(of
which there are no
less
than sixteen varieties in
the country), acacias, and ilanthus.

Upon the other side of the
river vegetation
.
Gates of
Tamerlane
dwindles and finally disappears, and for many miles

the low hills of the Pass of Jilan-
we proceed between
culminating at the northern end in a rocky portal

where many a bloody conflict has been waged for
uti,
the possession of the Zerafshan valley. The boastful

record of two ancient conquerors is deeply incised
on the smoothed face of the rock of Ulug Beg,
victorious in 1425, and of Abdullah
Anthony
Jenkinson's host, in 1571,
Khan of Bokhara,
when the inscrip-
tion records that he slew 400,000 of the
that blood ran for a
Very
month
like in character,
rugged
enemy, so
in the river of Jizak.
and not unlike, though
less
in surroundings, are these sculptured trophies
to the celebrated inscription of Trajan above the Iron
Gates of the Danube in Europe.
In spite of the deeds

and names it commemorates, the Central Asian defile, in
characteristic deference to the overpowering prestige

of a single name, is known as the Gates of Tamerlane.
Not many miles f beyond is the extensive but

straggling town of Jizak, with a population of 4,000,
the mouldering walls of whose former citadel serve
as a forlorn reminder of the Eussian victory of 1866.
Then ensues the Waste of Hunger, very properly so

called, for a more starved and sorry-looking region it
would be difficult to conceive and as the tarantass
;
goes bumping along, with the bells hung in the high
The Waste
unger
KMSIA IX CENTRAL ASIA
238
wooden arch over
the central horse's head jingling a
wild discord, and the dust rolling up in suffocating
volumes, the traveller too is very hungry for the end to

He can draw but little repose or consolation
arrive.
from
his halts at the post-houses,
where a bare wait-
ing-room with wooden tables and uncovered settees

placed at his disposal, and whose culinary resources
do not rise above the meagre level of a cup of tea and
is
a boiled egg.
lie
kent
more extravagant
rations
must bring with him.
At length we reach
The Syr
Dariu and
approach
or
Any other
the Syr Daria, or Jaxartes,
the second great river ot Central Asia, terminating at

present, like its greater brother the Oxus, in the Aral
The channel here appeared to be over a quarter

of a mile wide, and flowed along with a very rapid
ochreous current. Our vehicle was driven bodily
Sea.
on
to a big ferry boat,
worked by the stream, and
attached to a chain, the ferry being commanded by a

Here is the Kussian town
fort on the northern bank.
of Tchinaz, at a distance of three miles from the old
native Tchinaz, which was taken in 1865.
another spell
Then ensues
of dusty rutworn desert
and our
.
vehicle selects this opportune
of
its
wheels.
But patience
moment
is
to discard one
at length
rewarded
snow-capped mountains, which mean water, which

in its turn means verdure, rise into view
we enter
tall
the valley of the Tchirtcliik and its affluents, twentyfive miles in width ; and amid the sound of running
water, and under the shade of broad avenues of trees,

forty miles after leaving the Syr Daria we approach
the suburbs of the capital of Turkestan.
239
the suburbs of Tashkent I need not refer to
By
the environs only for in reality the Russian town is

one vast suburb, in which the houses stand apart
Great
fertility
amid
trees
and gardens interspersed with open spaces.
The meaning of the name

non lucendo
title
is
city of stone/ a lucus a
as far as either the Russian, or the
concerned, though whether it applies

more strictly to the ruins of old Tashkent, twenty
The size and height of
miles away, I cannot say.
native town,
is
the trees, principally poplar, acacia, and willow, with

which the streets of the new town are planted in
double and even in quadruple rows, and which are of

course only twenty years old, give a fair indication of
superb climate when in partA shoot has simply to be stuck
nership can do.
into the ground, and the rest may safely be left to
what
irrigation
and
this
nature.
Tashkent
is
a very lame
city,
J for
fo
it
covers an area The
as extensive as Pans, though with a population, not

of 2,500,000, but of 120,000, of which 100,000 are
congregated in the native or Sart quarter. The

Russian civil and military population are computed
same
10,000 each, and so large are the

enclosures or gardens in which the houses stand
at the
figure,
apart that the majority of the residents would seem

to have attained the ideal of Arcadian bliss expressed
'
elsewhere in the historical phrase, Three acres and a

cow.'
valley bisects the two portions of the town,
native and European, which are as separate in every
particular as are the lives of the double element in

the population, neither interfering nor appearing to
two
and
cities
societies
RVSSIA.JN; CENTRAL ASIA

'v
hold 'communication with the other.

of India, at
Bombay,
In the capitals
and Madras, there "is

private and in public life
Calcutta,
far greater fusion, both in
Bombay, the resident princes and

Calcutta, and the most influential native
the Parsees at
noblemen
at
merchants in all three, mingling habitually in AngloIndian society, and taking a prominent part, in some
cases in government, in others in the
management of
In Tashkent, on the other hand,

public institutions.
several obstacles preclude a similar amalgamation
the purely military character of the administration,
the dearth of any wealthy or capable men among the
I
natives, and the recency of the Eussiaii conquest.
'
remember once reading the remark that In Eussia

the discipline of the camp is substituted for the order
of the city martial law is the normal condition of
and of no Eussian city that I have seen did this
;
'
life
strike
me
as
more true than of Tashkent.
Uniforms
are everywhere, parade-grounds and barracks abound,

the extensive entourage associated with a great administrative centre
is
military
and not
civil in character.
hardly surprising that under such a system

practical or far-seeing projects for commercial and
It is
be forthcoming;
balance should be habitually on the
industrial development should not
that the fiscal
w#png
side of the
budget
or that Chauvinistic and
Where
aggressive ideas should prevail.

class
is
entirely military,
the ruling
and where promotion
is
slow,
would be strange
if war, the sole available avenue

not
to distinctipn, ;were
popular.
it
Tashkent
is,
perhaps,
less
than
it
used to be, the

refuge of
damaged reputations and shattered
241
fortunes,
Political
whose only hope of recovery lay in the chances mm*

But it is still the comafforded on the battlefield.
pulsory place of exile to which the young spendthrift
and the veteran offender are equally consigned,
the official purgatory following upon the Emperor's

One of the principal houses is inhabited
displeasure.
by a Grand Duke, a
cousin of the Czar,
first
who
is
He married the
said to be a very mauvais sujet.
at
of
a
police-officer
Orenburg, and is redaughter
ported to drink and to beat his wife. The exile of
this degenerate scion of royalty is understood to be
lifelong.
have already, in an
rumours
that
earlier chapter,
had prevailed
spoken of the
General
in the military circles of and a peace

policy
Tashkent, shortly before

invasion of Afghanistan.
my
It is
of an impending
therefore with pleasure
visit,
that I record the fact that the present Governor-
General (General Eosenbach), whose hospitality I

to enjoy, bears a very different
was fortunate enough
been appointed by the

present Emperor to create a diversion from the adventurous policy of his predecessors, Kaufmann and
reputation
having,
Tchernaieff,
and
it is
said,
in order to develop
more
carefully
If
the moral and material resources of the country.
I may judge from the general's own words, it is in
the latter object that he has himself been principally

For he spoke to me of the enormous
interested.
growth in the produce of cotton, the export of which

from Tashkent has multiplied twenty-five-fold in the
last five
years
and when, mindful of the old charge

it
242
that the Russians have done nothing to improve the

mental and moral condition of the subject population,
I enquired whether any steps had been taken to open
schools for the natives, he informed me that four
such schools had been started in Tashkent, with an

attendance of from thirty to forty at each, though at
present the natives exhibit no great desire to learn,
and that similar institutions had been started in
Khokaud, Hodjent, Katta Kurgan, and Samarkand.

He also told me that an infirmary had been opened
women
and was largely

resorted to by them.
Differing from Mr. Schuyler,
who wrote that Tashkent is not a manufacturing nor
for native
in the capital,
an agricultural centre, nor
is
it
a trade centre,' he
regarded his capital as the natural and physical

nucleus of Central Asian trade, and did not anticipate
that its supremacy would be endangered by the
now enjoyed by Samarkand.

General Rosenbach has now been for four years in
advantages
greater
Turkestan; and while I was there was said to be

likely to leave for some less onerous post in Russia.
however, that his
.1 fancy,
and
am
induce him
own
inclinations would,
confident that public interests should,

to devote a somewhat longer time
to the further
development of
this
still
backward
country.
Native
Touching Russian schools for the natives, I may

supplement what the general told me by the followIt was in December 1884 that the first of
ing facts.
these schools was opened in native Tashkent, forty
children being selected from the best Sart families to

profit
This was so
by the preliminary experiment.
successful that
243
two other schools were soon opened,
many Sart families began to employ Russian

teachers.
By 1886, eighteen such schools had been
while
started
in
Russian
Central
Asia
satisfactory
though a modest beginning compared with the 4,000

It has since
educational institutions of the Moslems.
been suggested that a Russian class should be added
compulsorily to the latter, which are already richly
endowed by the Vakiifs of deceased benefactors, so as

to precipitate the desired Russification of the native
1
peoples.
Benefiting by the hospitality of Government GovernHouse, I had some opportunity of observing the style House
in which the Yarim Padishah, or Half-King, as he is
described in Central Asia, represents the Imperial
Government. Schuyler, in his book and in the re-
port which he penned for the American Government,

drew a vivid picture of the state kept up by Kauf-
mann, who never went out without an escort of 100

mounted Cossacks, who permitted no one to sit down
in his presence, and whose return to Tashkent was
always signalised by triumphal arches and the firing
of cannon.
General Rosenbach has very different
and the Government House menage is now
ideas
pushed to the extreme of simplicity an example
;
1
M. S^m^noff, in the article before quoted from the Proceedings of
the Russian Imperial Geographical Society for 1888, says that the
Russian schools were at first only attended by the poor, but that they
are now patronised by the richest native families. He also mentions
the medical dispensaries for the natives at Tashkent.
Vaccination is
there performed, the
lymph being furnished by the
patients.
244
which, while
upon the native population in

immaterial, there being no class of sufficient imporits effect
tance to be dazzled by a show, is unquestionably

of great service to the Russian military circles, in
which the most reckless extravagance used formerly

Madame de Ujfalvy-Bourdon in her book
to prevail.
'
spoke of Government House as a veritable palace,

with a truly splendid interior, which could not be
'
but I fancy that

surpassed in any capital in Europe
her faculty of perspective must have been temporarily
disorganised by the prior experiences of a tarantass
;
and the Kirghiz Steppes. As a matter of fact, its

furniture and appointments are almost jejune in their
The only two large rooms, the ball-room
modesty.
and the dining-room, are practically unfurnished.

There is no throne-room or dais; and the only
emblems of royalty are the oil-paintings of the late

Czar and his wife, and of the present Emperor and
Empress, which hang upon the walls. The general
is
very proud of an ante-chamber or smoking-room,
the panels and coffered cornices of which have been
entirely carved
and painted
in Oriental style
by
Sart
workmen, and upholstered with divans of particoloured Bokharan velvet. When he drivel out, his
landau
is
drawn by a
troika of three
handsomely
caparisoned horses, whilst the livery affected by his

Tartar coachman is a black velvet cap with peacock
cannot imagine a
greater contrast to the state observed by the Indian
feathers
stuck in the brim.
Viceroy,
who
tentation,
its
in a country
famed
princely wealth, and
for its lavish osits
titled classes,
245
obliged to support the style of a sovereign, who

resides in a palace, the corridors of which are
is
crowded with gorgeous
figures in scarlet
and gold
liveries, \vho drives out accompanied by a brilliant

escort, and whose levees are as rigid in their etiquette.
as those of
Buckingham Palace or
St.
James'.
Behind
the Government House at Tashkent extends a beau-
garden, in which a military band plays, and to

which the public are admitted three times a week.
tiful
shaded walks and sylvan retreats, a respectable cascade formed by an artificial dam, and a
It contains
pit
for bears,
which was kept
filled
by
Tchernaieff,
who had
a craze for animals, until one of his pets

nearly bit off the leg of a Kirghiz. In addition to
this town residence, the Governor-General has a
summer villa in the suburbs, corresponding to the

Indian Viceroy's country house at Barrackpore.
In the neighbourhood of Government House are
the principal public buildings of the city, for the
most part of an exceedingly plain and unpretentious
character.
A new cathedral had just been completed,
and the detached bell-tower was about to receive its

noisy inmate. The Eussians seem to have a passion
from the ownership of the
The form of
the world at Moscow.
for bells, perhaps derived
biggest bell in
the buildings is that with which Kussia
made me
familiar
a low squat
had already
dome surmounting
domes abutting upon its

contains a somewhat gaudy iconostasis, or
the centre with half

It
screen, painted partly by amateur, partly

When I visited it, the choir,
talent.
sides.
altar
native
by
composed
Public
mgs
1WXMA L\
entirely of soldiers,
spectacle on
AM A
was practising; no uncommon
liiissiaii
soil,
the Russians being pre-
eminently a sinking people,
singing at \vork and

and
singing
play,
carrying with them into the
of
Asia
llic
steppes
songs and slaves and choruses of
The older and no\v disused ealliedral
Kurope.
at
stands
sliorl
distance away.
In a public garden
NKW KTSSIAN CATHKDRAL AT TASHKKNT.
near the road are situated the grave and monument

of Kaufmann, the first Governor-General of Turkestan
and founder of Eussian Tashkent, and a

ing certain, though
man
possess-
limited, attributes of greatness.
The most
pretentious building in the Eussian town is

undoubtedly the Club House, upon which the most
unnecessary amount of
money was
said originally to
have been spent, and which contains an enormous
247
where dances are held on Sunday

and which would, I should think, accommo-
circular ball-room,
nights,
date quite double the dancing population of Tashkent.

These military clubs, with their billiards and gambling
and
Iheir
weekly
regular feature of liussian
rein)i<>nx
life
MILITARY CLUB AT
in
and
balls,
are
every town where
TASlllx
troops are stationed they combine the advantages

of an officers' mess with those of an English club and
;
of a casino in a foreign town. Of the other

buildings
the principal are an observatory, a large
military
hospital, a theatre,
and a museum of Central Asian
and products, a colled ion

infancy, and stands in urgent
antiquities, flora, fauna,
which
is
still
in
its
248
1
arrangement and of funds. It
contains a number of prehistoric objects, found in
need both of
scientific
the steppes, of old bronzes
dug up
at
Samarkand and
elsewhere, of specimen tiles from vanished mosques,

and of stuffed birds and animals.
Among other
saw a poor specimen of an ovis poll, and a

preserved resltta, the horrible worm which is absorbed
objects I
into the
human system by
drinking the water of the
Zerafshan at Bokhara and elsewhere, and which I
have already described in my last chapter. It resembled a thread of vermicelli, being a light yellow
in colour, and when uncoiled must have been nearly
a yard long. Attached to the museum at Tashkent
is a library originally amassed for the Chancellery of
the Governor- General,
and containing the best
collec-
works on Central Asia published since the

year 1867 that is to be found in the world. Not
only books and pamphlets, but even magazine and
tion of
newspaper articles, are admitted to this collection,

in which I am driven to think that these humble
may some day
This library is supported by a small subsidy from the state. It has been
catalogued and arranged in chronological order
by Mr. V. L. Mejoff, who continues to publish at
pages
repose.
Petersburg a series of volumes entitled
St.
du
Turkestan/
in
duly chronicled, and
which
w hich
T
every addition
is
'
Eecueil
appears
already the most com-
plete bibliography of the Central Asian Question in

existence.
M. Se'me'noff says that this museum ought to have been located

Samarkand, as offering a wider field for archaeological investigation,
and as being less subject to earthquakes than Tashkent.
1
at

I have devoted the greater part of
249
my
space to
describing the modern city of Tashkent, because it is
as much the centre of attraction to a traveller with
political interests as is the
European
in contradistinc-
Just the
quarter of Calcutta.
inverse was the case at Bokhara and Samarkand.
tion to the
native
The native or Sart
Tashkent cannot, however,
city of
be altogether ignored, for it is three times as extensive as that of Samarkand, and contains as large a
population as that of the whole of Bokhara. It was
taken by storm by Tchernaieff with a force of only
1,950 men on June 29, 1865. Since then the greater
part of the old wall with
demolished
its
twelve gates has been

on the opposite
although, being situated
side of a ravine,
Russian town.
it
is
still
wholly separated from the
packed population, divided

and forty wards, comprises a float-
Its tightly
into four quarters
ing element of
Kashgarians, Bokhariots, Persians,
and Afghans, and a sedentary majority of Kirghiz,

Tartars, Jews, Hindus, Gypsies, and Sarts, the latter
being the generic
title
an urban as distinguished
Viewed from above, as from
for
from a nomad people.

the large recently restored
the bazaar,
we
mosque which overlooks
see nothing but an inclined plane of
dusty roofs, the deartli of colour making it as ugly

as are most Oriental towns from the panoramic point
of view.
The
real interest arid individuality are con-
fined to the streets and, could

interiors, to the houses.
we but
penetrate their
In a spectacular sense the
bazaars are as interesting as any that I saw in

ICentral Asia, for the Russians, while destroying much
Ancient or
250
7,T,SA7J
IN CENTRAL ASIA
of the labyrinthine*, intricacy of the old trading quarter, in order to construct new streets and shops, have
built
these
in
strict
conformity with the native
only difference being that more spacious

shops open on f<> a broader street than the ordinary,
the sun here and there finding a chink in the reed
style, the
mailing spread on polos- overhead, and throwing a
BKdLKll BEG MEDRKSSK, TASHKKXT.
upon the variegated crowd below. The

the Russian, conquest, no longer suffer
lance of light
Jews, since
from the
disabilities
men
labour at Bokhara.
still
While
Lhasa
at
under which their fellow-country-
Tashkent
hoard that the well-known
Russian explorer, (lonoral lYjevalskL with two other

Russian ollioers. Lieutenants Roborovski and Koxlof,
and M. Hogdanox
itch, a
mining engineer, had passed
251
through the capital a few weeks before, and had

there collected an escort of seventeen Cossacks with
which he hoped
to penetrate to the mysterious resi-
Lama
dence of the Grand

fifth
the
semi-scientific
of Thibet.
semi-political
This was the
expedition which
general had planned to the Thibetan interior ;

to make the present
and circumstances combined
opportunity a more favourable one for reaching and

obtaining admission to Lhasa than had ever yet occurred for with a little war between England and
;
Thibet dragging
its
Lama might
it
find
tedious length along, the Dalai

politic to
make a breach
in the
Chinese wall of exclusion by which his capital has

hitherto been shut out from the world, in favour of
the
one nation whose rivalry with England might
enable them to give him a substantial quid pro quo.

Politics might easily be cloaked and disguised under
the garb of science
that
if
but few sensible
men doubted
General Prjevalski ever entered Lhasa, he

it without some sort of
treaty in his
would not leave
These speculations, however, were rudely

dashed by the news which arrived a few weeks later
pocket.
that the intrepid explorer
had died on
his
way
at
Verny, the Russian frontier town upon the borders

of Kulja, from an illness which had doubtless been
aggravated,
if
not caused, by the sufferings and hard-
ships experienced in his earlier journeys.

Englishmen of every shade of opinion will unite with Russians
man who
deserves to be
ranked with Livingstone and Stanley
in this century
in deploring the loss of a
as a pioneer of scientific exploration in an
unknown
252
and perilous continent.
It
has since been announced
in the Eussian papers that he has been succeeded in
command of the
expedition
by Colonel Pevtsoff, of the
Staff, and that the party were to start afresh

in the spring.
For the expenses of the expedition a
General
sum
of
7,0()0/.
has been allowed.
At the same time
M. Joseph Martin, a French scientific explorer, is to

proceed from Pekin in the direction of Eastern
Thibet
Lhasa
Statistics
of population
and the two
parties
hope to join hands
at
in 1890.
append a number of statistics which may be

found of interest. According to a return prepared
I
by M. Kostenko,
chief of the Asiatic Department of
the General Staff of the Russian
Army, the most recent
figures of the population of Russian Central Asia

in
1885 as follows
What
were
the Afghan territory
may bo, alluded to by M. Kostenko as

He may allude to the
subject to Russian influence, I do not know.

Another table of statistics, published
253
in the
Eussian
Journal of the Ministry of Finance in 1885, gave the

population of Turkestan as follows, the figures being
uniformly higher than those of M. Kostenko
still
further increase
is
registered
by the
follow-
ing figures, which appeared in the Moscow Gazette

of May 1889
Zerafshan,
Syr Daria, 1,214,000
'
'
394,000 Ferghana, 710,000 Amu Daria, 133,630.

In Eussian Central Asia there is only 1*8 inhabitant to every square verst, as compared with 19*3 in
;
European Russia, 17*9 in Caucasia, and 71'4 in

Poland, the most thickly populated section of the
Empire. But Siberia is even more sparsely peopled,
The proportion
for there the proportion
is only 0'4.
of females to males in Central Asia
compared with 101*2

Caucasia, 93- 2 in
is
90*2 to 100, as
European Russia, 87*9 in

The
Siberia, and 104 in Poland.
in
total population of the entire empire, in
both conti-
districts adjacent to the new Russo-Afghan frontier, or to Afghan

Turkestan, or to the provinces on the upper Oxue. G enerally speaking,
M. Kostenko's figures are below the mark ; and in the case of the Merv
and Akhal Turkomans
I have substituted later returns.
We may
roughly compute the present population of Turkestan and Transcaspia

(including Khiva and Bokhara, which are effectively Russianised) as
6,000,000.
1
A square
verst
'44 of a square mile.
254
1885 (the latest year for which the figures

are available), was 108,787,235.
From the report already quoted, and from other
nents, for
Resources,
m&nuftic-
and
commerce
tutes,
sources,
the following
derive
information.
Of
152,500,000 acres in Turkestan, 70,000,000 are useless
either for pasture or cultivation, consisting of
steppes, mountains, or sands
75,000,000 are avail-
and of the remaining 7,500,000,

5,000,000 are under cultivation, and 2,500,000 are
The principal cereals grown are wheat,
prairie-lands.
able only for pasture
rice,
sorghum,
millet,
and barley.
Among
textile
products, cotton occupies the first place, flax and hemp

Kitchen gardening is widely
the second and third.
extended, particularly for melons and potatoes. The

mean annual production of the cultivated lands in
thousands of ponds
10,000
as follows:
is
sorghum, 8,800
other cereals, 3,000

the Syr Daria and
millet,
total,
Amu
5,400
47,900.
Daria
3,000,000 pouds of corn.
Wheat, 17,000
;
rice,
barley, 3,100;
The nomads of
districts raise
annually
The cotton crop of the
of Zerafshan, Kuraminsk, and Khojent is

estimated at 400,000 pouds, of Ferghana at 150,000
districts
Over 1,500 acres have been planted with

American cotton. In the mountainous regions horticulture isêxtensively pursued, and occupies an area
pouds.
of 250,000 acres, the principal fruits being vines,

apples, pears, cherries, plums, mulberries,
The dried
remote
fruits of
nuts.
Turkestan are sent to the most
districts of Siberia
of Eussia.
and
Sericulture
is
and
to the southern parts
one of the main branches
of industrial occupation, the figures of annual produce

being as follows
10,000
2,000
Ferghana, 15,000 pouds
Khojent, 3,000
total spun-silk
Zerafshan,
Tchimkent and Turkestan,
Bokhara, G0,000
10,000
255
Khiva, 3,000
Kasligar,
from Central Asia, 103,000
;
pouds, which, at the price of 125 roubles the poud,

gives an annual revenue of nearly 13,000,000 roubles
The figures of cattle in Turkestan are
(1,300,00()/.).
follows:
as
645,000
Sheep and
goats, 4,810,000;
camels, 382,200
total 6,362,000.
The
horned
cattle,
fisheries at the
horses,
525,000
mouth
of the
Daria and in the Aral Sea bring in an annual

revenue of about 10,000^., the sale of skins and furs
r
Sj r
55,000/.
The mineral
riches of Turkestan are not
yet properly developed, with the exception of some

coal-mines in the neighbourhood of Khojent, which
produce about 750,000 pouds of coal a year.
Eussian engineer, sent to Central Asia on a special

scientific mission, has recently (1889) reported that
the oil-wells at Penjakent, near Samarkand, contain
pounds of perfectly pure oil.

Factories and workshops for native manufactures have
greatly increased, and present the following figures
at least nine billions of
Syr Daria district, 720 workshops, 3,000 artisans,

140,000/. annual produce Ferghana, 420 workshops,
2,000 artisans, 80,OOOJ. produce; Zerafshan, 520 work;
shops, 1,000 artisans, 60,000/. produce
two workshops,
fifty artisans, 5,000/.
Amu
produce
Daria,
;
total,
1,662 workshops, 6,050 artisans, 285,000. produce.
The most important manufactories, belonging
to the
Eussians, are forty in number, including twelve distilleries of brandy with an annual revenue of 50,00()/.,
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ARIA
256
tobacco factories, four of leather, two for the

cleaning of cotton, one of oil, and one of glass.
five
numerous
the
Among
small
native
manufac-
tures, the principal are the spinning and weaving of

silk.
The small workshops in Ferghana turn out more
than 100,OOOJ. worth of

cotton
and about 30,000/. of
silk,
From
stuffs.
private dwellings nearly 400,000

of
are supplied to the army.
cotton
yards
home-spun
There is also a considerable production of carpets and
woollen
of the
impossible to give exact figures

The volume of yearly
of Turkestan.
It is
stuffs.
commerce
towns of Tashkent,
Khokand, and Samarkand has been estimated at
1,000,0002., but this estimate is far below the actual
trade
in
total.
The
as follows
the
three
principal
relative shares
were
1881) apportioned
(in
Export Trade from Turkestan.
To
To
the Fair of Nijni Novgorod
.500,000
Irbit
50,000
Krestovski
50,000
the Fairs of the Steppes
100,000
Orenburg and Orsk
130,000
Troitsk
100,000
50,000
Petropavloak
Somipalatinsk and Semirechinsk

Total
....
Import Trade
to
1,080,000
Turkestan.
From Orenburg and Orsk
550,000
Troitsk
200,000
150,000
Petropavlosk
100,000
Semipalatinsk and Semirechinsk

the Fairs of the Steppes
Total
....
....
.
100,000
200,000
1,200,000
SAMARKAND AND TAtiUKKNT

The export trade from Turkestan
to the
257
Khanates
of Khiva and Bokhara and the Chinese possessions

in Kashgaria was, in 1884, 600,0001., the import trade
Between 18GG and 1885 the commerce of
550,()00/.
Turkestan was doubled.
Among
Russian articles
exported to Turkestan, the principal are woollen and

cotton tissues, leather, hardware, and trimmings finTurkestan retaliates principally with cattle,
clothing.
and
about
with
100,0001.
worth
of
tea
from
India.
In 1886 a decree was promulgated, ordaining a

new administration of the government of Turkestan,
which came
into operation
on January
1,
1887.
Under
system the country is divided into three provinces,

the Syr Daria and Amu Daria districts, Ferghnna,
and Xerafshan, administered by military governors
this
with extended powers, and subdivided into

sub-districts,
in
which
administrative
and
fifteen
police,
powers are assigned to district chiefs, and which subdistricts are further partitioned into small areas controlled by commissioners of police.
The general
legislation of the
Empire is only applied in Turkestan

and the Postal and Telegraphic
to Finance, Education,
Service.
In other departments important deviations
have been introduced, particularly in those of Justice,

There are two kinds
the Land Laws, and Taxation.
of Tribunals, those in which Russian law prevails, as
and popularly elected local
in the rest of the Empire
;
benches, possessing jurisdiction only over natives for

petty offences and in insignificant civil cases, and
As regards
adjudicating according to native custom.
System of
tfovom-
mcnt
258
the agrarian
system, hereditary proprietary rights,
where consecrated by long usage, have been recognised

Unoccuin the case of sedentary rural populations.
pied lands and virgin forests are appropriated by the
state, but are commonly left in the temporary occupation of nomads, enjoying absolute proprietary rights
over their buildings and fixtures. Land transfer
among the natives is determined by local custom,
between natives and foreigners by the written law.

Allotments of state lands, up to a maximum of twentyfive acres, are made to Russian soldiers belonging to
The sedentary population pay a landtax to the Government, the nomads a house or tent-
the Reserve.
tax of four roubles per Kibitka.

sessed as follows
The land-tax
is
as-
ten per cent, on the gross proartificial irrigation, fixed for a
duce of lands under
period of six years; and ten per cent., fixed yearly,

on the net profits of cultivation of unirrigated
lands.
Revenue
and oxpenditure
have been unable,
in spite of efforts, to
.
procure
before going to press the latest statistics of revenue

and expenditure in Turkestan. In the face of a con-
tinued deficit and in the absence of parliamentary control, the Russians are not anxious to publish figures
that might give the
There
is
little
enemy occasion
to
blaspheme.
doubt that ever since the annexation
they have only worked their Central Asian provinces

General Kuropatkin admitted that in the first
at a loss.
ten years, from 1868-1878, the total deficit amounted

the expenditure on civil administrato 6,700,000/.
tion having
been 2,400,000/., and on military admini-
250
stration 7,500,00(M. (a significant proportion) ; while

the returns in revenue from the country amounted
To what extent the second

only to 3,200,000/.
decade has recouped Eussia for the sacrifices of the
first it is
impossible exactly to ascertain
but we are
hazarding no risky assumption if we believe, that the

balance is yet very far from being wiped out.
1
As I am upon
give some idea ot
of Russia, in
add the following, which

the enormous territorial expansion
Europe, and still more in Asia. At the
figures, I
accession of Peter the Great in 1G82, the Russian
Empire covered 1,696,000 square miles in Europe,

3,922,000 in Asia. At his death in 1725 the figures
were 1,738,000 in Europe, and 4,092,000 in Asia;
while the total census was then only 14,000,000.
At
the present date the extent is 2,110,436 square

miles in Europe, and 6,451,847 in Asia, or a total of
8,562,283 square miles (of which 94,535 have been

acquired since 1881 ) while the census, which in 1885
;
fell
just short of 109,000,000,
is
said
now to be
nearer
120,000,000.
M. Semenoff says that the Turkestan budget now shows an annual
surplus of 200,OOOZ. of receipts over expenditure, not including the cost
of the army and military administration. This shows how serious the
1
deficit
must
still
be.
Territorial
expansion
of Russia
260
CHAPTER
VIII
KXTKNSIONS AND EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCASPJAN
RAILWAY
There were his young barbarians
all at play.
BYBON, Childe Harold.
__
Extension to Tashkent Its advantages Bourdalik and Karshi Line

Tcharjui and Kcrki brancli Herat extension Merv and Penjdeh
l)ranch
Proposed junction with the Indian railway system
Grave drawbacks (i.) Fiscal, (ii.) Political Favourable estimate
-
of the Transcaspian Railway Possible strain in time of war

Political effects of the railway
Absorption of Turkomania Influence upon Persia Increased prestige of Russia Commercial
Annenkoff's prophecies Commercial policy and success

Russian economic policy of strict protection
Its
operation in Central Asia Russian trade with Afghanistan
effects
of Russia
Imports and exports Anglo-Indian transit trade British trade

with Afghanistan Quotation from Foreign Of lice Report Russian monopoly in Northern Persia and Khorasan Destruction
of British trade with Northern Persia Commercial future of the
Strategical consequences of the line
Shifting of centre of gravity in Central Asia Greater proximity
of base Comparison of present with former facilities Russian
Transcaspian Railway
power of attack Lines of invasion (i.) Caspian and Herat Line

Strength and location of the Russian forces in Transcaspia
Reinforcements from Europe Difficulty of Caspian marine trans:
port -Latest figures

supplies -Serious in
Difficulty of landing-places
Difficulty of
Transcaspia Importance of Khorasan

Complicity of Persia Addition to offensive power of Russia
Strength and utility of Turkestan Army Total Russian
(ii.)
strength for invasion Strength of Anglo-Indian Army for offenBritish and Russian reinforcements The issue
Russian views of the Transcaspian Railway as a means of offence.
sive purposes
HAVING now carried

of
my
readers to the furthest point

journey, I propose in this chapter to deal with
my
EFFECTS OF THE TRANRCA8PIAN RAILWAY

possible or
261
contemplated extensions of the Trans-
caspian Eailway, and to estimate
its
political,
consequences,
commercial, and strategical, in Central Asia.
There
no doubt that
rail
is
it
will
north, but
now be
if
Tashkent
not in the
is
first
approached by
place from the
by a continuation from Samarkand.
The
physical obstacles to the construction of such a line

are insignificant
though more cutting and embank-
ment would be necessitated than along the TransTwo stable and permanent bridges
caspian route.
would, moreover, be required over the straggling
channels of the Zerafshan and over the Syr Daria.
M. Mestcherin told me at St. Petersburg that the
and
of
building these bridges

would, in his opinion, postpone the suggested extension, which would be rendered the less necessary by
difficulty
expense
the gradual transference to
Samarkand of
the mer-
and eventually, perhaps, of the administrative

business now centred in Tashkent. General Eoseubach
cantile
also recognised a probable cause of delay in the cost
of the bridges, but did not agree in the hypothesis of

an ultimate deposition of the present capital in favour
of Samarkand.
that
in his
drew from his remarks
judgment
the
the inference
connection of
the two
a
places by rail will not be very long postponed
conclusion at which I should arrive myself with even
greater confidence, on the a priori ground that, the
Transcaspian Eailway having been built for strategical purposes, the Eussians are not in the least likely
be deterred by a gap of less than 200 miles from linking together the two bases of operations and lines of
to
202
1WNMA
J^r
VENTRAL ASIA
advance, the twin arms, so to speak, of the forceps,

whose firm grip may one day he required to draw
the teeth of England in Central Asia.
from Tashkent
railway
would enable
Samarkand
to
the
resources not merely

of Turkestan, but even of Omsk, the nearest military
Kussians to
utilise the military
district of Siberia,
and
upon the Oxus
to place
at
Tcharjui, at Kerki, or at Kilif, a second army as large

in numbers, and in as short a space of time, as the
main force advancing from the Caspian vid Sarakhs.

The one would menace "Balkh, Bamian, and Kabul,
the other Herat and
Kandahar
Afghan army would have

its ndvan.
and a
to divide its
order to confront the double danger,

Political and commercial reasons
British
or
strength in
recommend
the
tages
same extension.
Turkestan has hitherto been dependent upon the laborious caravan routes across the
Kirghiz steppes from Orenburg.
Transport along
these occupied at the quickest from four to six weeks,
and sometimes
in the winter four or five months.
Governor-General journeying at
full
speed from his
seat of
government to St. Petersburg, or vice versd,

Its extreme
weeks upon the road.
isolation severed Tashkent from the world, and in
spent three
the absence of intercourse
and dearth of any but
telegraphic communication, fostered a mischievous

Closer
spirit of independence.
and even foolhardy
correspondence with European Russia and the capital

will, politically speaking, be a gain to the peace,
rather than to the war party.
From the commercial
point of view the connection of Tashkent with a
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY
2G3
railway system will prove similarly advantageous.

Already both the import and export trades of Fer-
ghana and Turkestan have been diverted
to a large
extent to the railway, even though carried no further

than Samarkand.
When the rails have been pro-
longed to Tashkent, it will monopolise the entire

Not the least
traffic, at least with Southern Russia.
important
among
its effects
w ill be
T
the stimulus that
may thus be given to the cotton-planting industry of

Turkestan, which has already attained large dimenand
sions,
to
which the Russians look
in the future to
render themselves
wholly independent of foreign

So certain indeed do I feel of the extension
supply.
of the line to Tashkent as an event of the near future,
that I
would even hazard the prediction that
it
will
ultimately be continued thence northwards to Oren1
or perhaps to some other point further east

on the Central Siberian Railway, which is now being
planned across Northern Asia, and which is to run
burg,
Tomsk
and that so one part at least

of Lesseps' original design will be completed, though
in an inverse direction, and there will be a circular
ind
to Irkutsk
railway extending from Moscow and returning again to

I do not
it, through the heart of the Asian continent.
say that this will be effected in ten or even twenty years,
but that it will come as the logical corollary to the
1
The Russian Ministry
of Public
summer applied for funds in order

Samara via Orenburg to Tashkent.
*
Ways has
to
already in the past

for a lino from
make surveys
According to the official scheme recently approved by a special commission, the line is to run from Zlatoust, through Kurgan, Omsk, Tomsk,
and Kansk to Irkutsk ; and ultimately via, Southern Baikal, Possolskaia, Chita, Stretensk, and Khabarooka, to Vladivostok on the Pacific.
204
Transcaspian Eailway I have little doubt. Brandies

to Khokand and elsewhere will naturally follow.
When
Lino
the surveys for General AnnenkofPs railway
were being made the idea was discussed of approaching the Ainu Daria at a point considerably to the
south of Tcharjui, and of selecting Bourdaiik, about
halfway between Tcharjui and Kerki, for the point

of crossing.
This would have been a more direct
by nearly fifty miles from Merv

which would have been reached vid
route
On
town of Karshi.
the other hand,
to
Samarkand,
the Bokharan
it
would have
involved a rather longer stretch of the sand desert,

and would have missed the more populous and fertile
portions of the Khanate, and the capital
itself,
great
advantages, both commercial and political, from the

opening of which to traffic were rightly anticipated
by the Russian authorities. These considerations
decided them in favour of the Tcharjui route; and

the more southern line is not now spoken of.
Tcharjui-
branch
In another form, however, the project of bringing

the upper Oxus into communication with the TransCaspian system has lately bee*n revived, viz. in the
scheme of a railway along the left bank of the Oxus
from Tcharjui, either to Kerki, the most advanced
military station of Kussia on the river,
occupied
in
May
1887, or to Bosaga, the frontier post
was hoped originally

such an undertaking would be ob-
in the district of Kliamiab.
that the need for
viated
which was
It
by the success of the Oxus
flotilla,
which was
intended to supply the principal means of advance

But the precarious fortune of the
in that direction
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSOASMAX RAILWAY
265
navigation, to which I have previously referred, has

shaken these expectations and when the recent scare
;
occurred on the borders of Afghan Turkestan in the

spring of 1881), it was announced that the Russians
had decided
to carry forward the railway to
This was in
all
Khamiab.
probability a piece of bravado
and
unlikely that this branch will be immediately

taken in hand. Should it be constructed in the
it
is
can be no misconception as to its characobject. These will be purely strategical; and
future, there
ter
and
they will amount to a military menace against Afghan

Turkestan.
An
even more interesting question is the southerly

extension of the existing line from some point near
the
Afghan
frontier in the direction of Herat.
earlier chapter I
In an
mentioned Pushak as the southern-
most station of the present railway and a possible

starting-point of future advance.
When
Itussia first
pushed forward to and beyond Askabad, the boundary

region between Turkomania, Persia, and Afghanistan
was so little known that the officials themselves could
form no opinion as to the
possibility of
conducting a
These
railway in near vicinity to the Afghan frontier.
doubts were for ever set at rest by the memorable
expeditions of the Russian engineer M. Lessar, in the
winter of 1881, the spring of 1882, and again in
and exhaustively surveying this

terra incognita right up to the walls of Herat, he
showed that the physical and engineering difficulties
1883.
Skilfully
of such a project were purely chimerical, and resolved

the impassable mountain barrier, by which the fond
Herat
extension
266
fancy of an uninstructed generation bad believed

Herat to be defended on the north, into a chain of
crossed by a pass about the same height
above the surrounding country as the highest point
low
hills,
of the Mendip Hills above the Bristol Channel. From

Dushak to Sarakhs the line would traverse a level
plain
from Sarakhs
it
would follow the
the Heri llud through a country,
now
east
flat,
bank of
now
un-
nowhere difficult. Crossing the Paropamisus range by a pass over the Barkhut hills, it would
finally debouch upon Kuhsan, sixty-five miles over
dulating, but
the level to Herat.
Were
the Eussian authorities,
this the direction
Dushak would
adopted by
constitute the
obvious point of deviation, while Sarakhs and Pul-i-
Khatim would naturally
figure as stations
upon the
Herat branch.
branch
Later topographical surveys, however, as well as

other considerations, have latterly served to bring to
the front the rival project of an extension from Merv
up the valley of the Murghab to Penjdeh and the
confluence with the
M. Lessar
Kushk
and
am
to say that he has himself
authorised
by
abandoned
his
Under these cirpreference for the earlier scheme.

cumstances we may expect that if an extension towards the frontier
will
be the
is
contemplated in these parts,
line of advance.
Upon
this
the spot no very
Plans were said

precise information was procurable.
not yet to have been prepared. There seemed, how-
be a consensus of opinion that sooner or

later the southerly extension would be taken in hand,
ever, to
a few persons assigning to
it
the
first
place on the
EFFECTS OF THE TRANM'ASPIAX RAILWAY

programme of
Some
construction.
conflict
2G7
may be
expected between the peace party and the war party

on the subject, the former agitating for the extension
which would be mainly of commercial

advantage, the latter for that to Sarakhs or Penjdeh,
which would be a purely military operation, and the
to Tashkent,
meaning of which the most elementary knowledge of

already at the
mercy of Russia, would be placed literally within her
clutch.
She might not care to violate the Afghan
the conditions will
teach.
and run the
frontier
Herat,
risk of
war with England by
pushing on the rails to Herat itself; but her terminus

would be within a few days' march of the key of
'
India,'
and the occurrence of any internal complica-
might give the signal
tion
for the short
remaining
Englishmen are already beginning to prepare themselves for a Russian occupation of Herat,
not with equanimity, because such a step cannot fail
advance.
to involve war, and if effected, must certainly entail

a loss of British prestige, but as the next forward
move of Russia in the Central Asian game. I shall
not be surprised
if
many now
railway station at Herat
come now
living see a Russian
in their time.
of the
to the
ex-
si^ggested
question
PIT
IT
pAi-i
tension oi the line through the heart ot Afghanistan,
T
-,
and
TT
its
junction with the Indian railway system at
Proposed
junction
with the
Indian
railway
system
General Annenkoff has both in print and

in reported interviews indulged in the most rainbowhued anticipations of such an amalgamation. lie
Kandahar.
has talked about Englishmen travelling from London

to India in nine days vid the Caspian and Herat and,
;
RUMIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
268
though he seems to have been struck by the improbability that such a line passing through Eussian
territory could be utilised
by
British troops, he has
expressed the ingenuous opinion that it might

certainly be used by British merchants, while an ex-
emption might even be made in favour of British

The physical obstacles to such a through
officers.
I have pointed out that the extension
line are nil.
only a matter of time. Prom
Herat to Kandahar, a distance of 381) miles, there are
to
Herat
is
easy,
and
is
no greater difficulties. As long ago as June 25, 1838,

Sir John M'Nrill, who showed a knowledge much in
advance of his generation, wrote as follows to Lord
Palmerston from Meshed
:
1 have already informed your lordship publicly that the

country between the frontiers of Persia and India is far more
productive than 1 had imagined it to be ; and I can assure
your lordship that there
is
no impediment,
either from the
physical features of the country or from the deficiency of

supplies, to the inarch of a large army from the frontiers of
Georgia to Kandahar, or, as I believe, to the Indus.
Count Simonitch, being
larne
from a wound, drove his
carriage from Teheran, to Herat, and could drive it to Kandahar and the Shah's army has now for nearly seven months
;
subsisted almost exclusively on the supplies of the country

immediately around Herat and Ghnrian, leaving the still
more productive districts of Sebzewar and Farrah untouched.

In short, I can vouch from personal observation that there is
absolutely no impediment to the march of an army to Herat
and that from all the information I have received, the country
between that city and Kandahar not only presents no difficulty,
;
but affords remarkable
There
facilities
for the
passage of armies.
my lord, no security for India in the nature

of the country through which an army would have to pass to
is,
therefore,
2G9
On the contrary, the whole line is

side.
such
an enterprise and I am the
for
favourable
peculiarly
more anxious to state this opinion clearly, becauso it is at
invade
from this
it
variance with
1
may
my
previous
belief,
and with statements which
have previously hazarded, relying on more imperfect
information.
What
applies
M'Neill said
years ago of an
fifty
more to-day to a railway.

would be separated by only
still
the line
army
At Kandahar
sixty miles of
from tlie present outpost of British arms

and terminus of the Quetta Eailway at Chaman. From
600 to 700 miles, for the most part over a country as
level plain
as the
flat
palm of the hand,
is
limited extent of the hiatus that
When we
tion
all,
we
the
therefore the very

still
intervenes.
turn to the political aspect of the cnies-
âwbacka
v/r
*
*
i
A A
Alter
are in a very dmerent atmosphere.
proposed amalgamation must involve two
consenting parties and if the Eussian Government

were to favour the idea, which is so contrary to
traditional Muscovite policy as to be extremely un;
likely, the
consent of
Downing
Street, of the British
House of Commons, and, in the last resort, of the

I
British people, would still have to be obtained.
devoutly hope that not one of the three would for a
moment
entertain an idea so speculative in its inception, so problematical in its issues, so perilous in the
lateral contingencies to
question
if
which
even from a
would reap the
slightest
fiscal
advantage from the alleged
new outlet to her Indian trade

be
stifled
might give birth. I

point of view England
it
for this
would speedily
by the merciless prohibitory tariffs of Eussia,
i,
Fiscal
270
which already have all but ousted English caravanborne goods from the markets of Central Asia, and
have seriously handicapped the export of Indian
native produce and manufactures. On the other hand,
Russian merchandise, unimpeded by hostile duties,
would descend in an avalanche upon the markets
of Afghanistan, Beluchistan, and the Indian border;
it
would
towns of Seistan and Southern
flood the
Persia; and England would find that she

handed over the keys of her commercial
her only formidable

ii.
Political
had stupidly
monopoly
to
rival.
But supposing these views
be exaggerated
or mistaken, assuming commercial profit to Great
.Britain resulting from a junction of
railways, and
to
estimating that profit at the maximum, it would yet

be dearly purchased at the cost of national insecurity,
of lowered prestige, and of perpetual danger.
The
of
the
Russian
prolongation
railway through Afghanifor if it were prolonged it is to be feared that
stan
as far as
Kandahar
it
would be the work of Russian
would be regarded
capital and of Russian hands
throughout the East as a crowning blow to British
prestige, already seriously imperilled
of pocketed affronts
by a long course
and diplomatic
reverses.
It
would imply the consolidation of Russian dominion

right up to the gates of Kandahar (for I am assuming
that in the event of Russia seizing Herat the British
Government would at least retaliate by an occupation

It would entail a coterminous frontier.
of Kandahar).
would bring a
the Indus and to
It
possible
India.
enemy a month nearer to

It would mean that at the

slightest breath of disagreement
London and
of
must be placed
armed attack.
St.
271
between the Cabinets
Petersburg, the British frontier
in a state of efficient defence against

It
would involve an enormous con-
centration of troops, and a heavy charge upon the

Indian Exchequer. It would necessitate a standing
increase of the Indian
I
For
Arm}
earnestly hope that no support
all
these reasons
bo given in
itself and likely
will
England to a project so fantastic in

to be so dangerous to the Empire.
Passing from the question of the future developmerit
of the Transcaspian
1
line, I will
.
briefly state mate
what appeared to me to be its chief sources of

strength and means of influence, and will then attempt
bearing upon the relations of Groat
In the first place, I
Britain and Russia in the East.
to estimate
am
its
inclined to think that General Amienkoff's rail-
way has been much underrated
in England.
Realistic
descriptions of the unprepossessing country which it

traverses, exaggerated versions of the various acci-
dents or stoppages to traffic that have occurred, an

imperfect comprehension of the as yet undeveloped
resources of the
new Russian
territories,
have com-
bined to produce an unfavourable impression. It

was even believed for some time in this country that
the line was laid on a very narrow gauge and Sir
Charles Dilke, writing so late as the year 1887, de;
scribed the extension south of Askabad, which had
been completed for over a year, as a steam tramway,

a statement which is still allowed to appear without
correction in the
Favour-
printed collection of his essays.
of
the TransCaspian
RUSSIA
272
From
IAT
CENTRAL ASIA
my own
the evidence of
eyes, of
endeavoured to give a perfectly
which
have
faithful picture, I
drew a different conclusion. It appeared to me that,

on the whole, and taking into account the poverty of
available resources, the line has been well and sublaid
stantially
that
the
rolling
stock,
though at
of good material ; that the

present inadequate,
buildings and appointments have been or are being
that the permanent way has
excellently constructed
is
been as
effectively
safeguarded against destructive
as the local conditions
influences
that, considering the limited
for
some time
railways in
will permit;
amount of
traffic
and
that
will pass over the line,
European
States,
compared with
and the avowedly stra-
tegical character of the original undertaking, it is

of a more solid and permanent character than might
have been expected. Attention was drawn by the

Times correspondent to the absence of a sufficient
'
number of
culverts to
draw
off the cataracts of
water
that descend from the Persian mountains, a defect

which has since been repaired, and I have before
With
alluded to the ever-present peril of the sands.

these
two exceptions, the
a one as
is
to
line is as safe
and as durable
be found in any similar region of the
world.
Possible
strain in
time of war
To what extent
.
it
might, in time of war, be able

.
to stand the strain of a succession of
heavy trams,
is
perhaps more open to question. The absence of any

ballast but sand, and the difficulty, in the absence of
timber, of repairing rotten or broken sleepers, though
not noticeable under the conditions of ordinary traffic,
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCASPIAX RAILWAY
273
might become serious in an emergency. The scarcity

of water and the amount of railway material required
conveyance of supplies, co-operating with the
above-mentioned features, incline me to the belief
for the
that, of
the two extremes, a lower rather than a
higher estimate should at present prevail of its capabilities

formidable as I shall show these in many
in time of war.
respects to be
the
consequences directly accruing from
Among
the construction of the railway, I will first call atten-
tion to its political effects
on Russia and the Russian
Twenty-five years ago, when

Eussia, recovering from the prostration inflicted by
the Crimean War, began to push into the heart of
dominions in the East.
was from the north and north-west that she

advanced. Her objective was the Khanates of the
middle zone, towards which her route lay over the
Asia,
it
and she attained her end with the

capture of Samarkand and practical subjugation of
Turkestan and Khokand were
Bokhara in 1808.
Kirghiz Steppes
already conquered, if not finally absorbed and north

of the Oxus no fresh enemy awaited or merited attack.
;
Accordingly she shifted her attention
to
another
and commenced, at first tentatively and

blunderingly, from the direction of the Caspian
quarter,
Sea.
Ambition, nature, necessity gradually tempted

her on, from Krasnovodsk to Geok Tepe. from Geok
Askabad, from Askabad to Merv, and from

Merv to Sarakhs and Penjdeh, until presently she
found herself in possession of a twofold Asiatic
Tepe
to
dominion., the one part in Turkomania, the other in
Political
the railway
274
mighty river and impassable sands

separated the two and rendered communication precarious.
General AnnenkofFs railway has laughed
Turkestan.
alike at river
and
at sands, has passed the impassable,
and has linked together and consolidated the earlier

and the later conquest, welding east and west into a
single Central Asian Empire.
sandwiched between
the
presidencies
stricken
first
it is
true, lies
but so does Hyderabad between
of Madras
before, Bokhara
signed away her

the
Bokhara,
and
is
last expiring
rails started
Bombay.
Panic-
impotent now, having

chance of freedom when
from the Oxus bank.
It
is
who still argue

Bokhara
in
rise
rebellion, and the
though
might
Russians be forcibly ejected from the Khanate. Let
amazing
to
hear and read of people
as
all
such insane hallucinations be extinguished. The

that Geok Tepe wrote in blood for the
sentence
Turkomans, General Annenkoff has translated in a

less truculent vocabulary for the Tajiks.
Bokhara is
rather more Russian than Hyderabad is British
and
the Amir is, if possible, less formidable than the Nizam.
;
Absorption
mania
In Turkomania, too, the railway has exercised a

powerful effect. Without it the occupation of Merv,
though peacefully
effected,
would have remained a
isolated, and possibly followed by risk.

the railway line has taken its place as one
link in the chain of Turkoman oases, now for the first
venture,
Merv on
time connected together, and has pledged along with

its own allegiance that of Yuletan, Sarakhs, and
Indeed, the ultimate consequences of the
line are further reaching still ; for to a new Turko-
Penjdeh.
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCASPIAF RAILWAY
275
manian empire thus constituted the whole body of

Turkomans, whose tribal differences are as nothing
compared with their blood distinction from Persian,
Afghan, or Tartar, will tend to gravitate and the
;
Yomuds and Goklans
of
Turkomans of North Persia,
the Atrek, Gurgaii, and Sumbar Rivers, as well as the
Turkomans Salors, Ersari, Alieli, Kara, and others
of the upper pastures of the Kushk and Murghab, of
Andkui and Maimena, and Afghan Turkestan, along
with those of Khiva, 1 will sooner or later cross the

frontier line into Russian territory if she does not first
cross
it
into theirs.
In a word, the construction of
the railway means the final Russification of the whole

Turkoman Steppes from Khorasan to Khiva, and from
the Caspian to the Oxus.
Of the influence of the railway
upon Persia I shall

speak again in discussing its commercial and military
consequences. But the political ascendency which it
confirms to Russia may be roughly indicated by a
glance at the map, where it will be seen to command
along its entire length the northern flank of Khorasan,
and has been signally exemplified in the pressure
lately brought to bear by Russia with such complete
success at Teheran,
first
to secure the
appointment
of a Consul-General at Meshed, and subsequently to

enforce the completion of the road to that place from
The Russian minister
Askabad.
wink
to
at
Teheran has but
his eye in the direction of the Caspian
and
The Turkomans under Khivan rule are Yomuds, Chadars, Emrali

and their numbers were estimated by Kaufmann and
Alili
Ata and
Petrusevitch at 250,000.
influence
Persia
276
Khorasan
for the
Shah
to
know exactly what is meant.
The Transcaspian Railway
is
a sword of Damocles
perpetually suspended above his head, just as the

non-payment of the war indemnity is over that of his
companion
Among
increased
Russia
must be
in misfortune, the Sultan of
Turkey,
the political consequences of the railway
included
immense augmentation of
the
Russian prestige in the East. Already redoubtable

for the endurance and bravery of her soldiers, she has
shown her
superiority over those hostile forces of
nature with which the
fatalistic Oriental
found
spirit
Central Asia
railway in the deserts of

a far more wonderful thing to the
to cope.
is
has never
Eastern mind than one through the teeming territories

of Hindostan
the passage of the sands more remark:
able than the piercing of mountain ranges.
Fatalism,
moreover,
by provoking a sanguinary
resistance, ends in producing a stupefied submission.
if
it
starts
sense of utter powerlessness against the Russians
has been diffused abroad among the Central Asian

peoples, and experience of the overwhelming strength
of their conquerors has brought a corresponding

recognition of their own weakness to the conquered.
The
of inveterate savagery burns feebly and low.

Like a herd of cattle cowering under shelter during a
thunderstorm, they court the very danger by which
Comeffects
fire
they are at once fascinated and appalled.

I turn next to the commercial effects of the
new
upon which I shall express decided

and
opinions at variance with those that
opinions,
have hitherto found spokesmen in this country. It
railway, a subject

has been asserted that
little
277
or no commercial interest
has been displayed in the undertaking that no

merchants from St. Petersburg or Moscow were
present at the inauguration that the annual fair at
;
Baku, established in connection with the
line,
has so
far proved somewhat of a failure (it has, however, only

been in existence for two years) and, in fine, that the
business classes in Eussia have as good as boycotted
;
the entire concern.
I believe this to
be an altogether
erroneous impression. I look upon the railway as

possessing a commercial future of the very first and
most serious importance; and I can even conceive this

result, that an enterprise admittedly military in its
inception may
Britain as a
mercantile
come in time to be regarded by Great

more formidable antagonist to her
than to her imperial supremacy in the
East.
In credit to General Annenkoff
it
must be said
that, partly no doubt with a desire to conciliate opposition and to render plausible the pacific character
of the undertaking, but still with no small practical
insight,
he has proclaimed from the
first
that there
was a great trade opening in Central Asia which his

railway was destined to fill. In his original pamphlet,
introducing his scheme to the notice of the public, he
pointed out that the overland trade of India had
invariably enriched the countries through which it
He
proposed, in short, to tap the springs of

Central Asian commerce, and to compete with Great
passed.
Britain even in the markets of her

Ii\
a later report, published at
St.
own
dominions.
Petersburg in 1887,
278
upon the commercial importance of the
line, the
General wisely restricted his imagination to a somewhat less ambitious horizon, but with actual experience to reckon from, issued a revised manifesto of the
commercial possibilities of Eussia in Central Asia. 1
In this publication lie pointed out the chance now
presented to Eussia of securing a monopoly of the
trade of Khorasan,
and estimated that
four-fifths of the
exports, amounting to 6,450 tons weight, would pass

by the Transcaspian Eailway, and of the imports and
He also dwelt upon

exports together 12,100 tons.
the future of the cotton industry of Turkestan,
destined sooner or later to meet the fullest demands
of European Eussia, whither the Transcaspian Eailway
would provide the speediest and cheapest method
of transport, Turkestan-grown cotton being saleable

under these conditions in Moscow at fourpence a
pound, whereas imported cotton from Egypt, India,

or America is only procurable at an average price of
sevenpence a pound. The calculations and forecasts
of General Annenkoff are, I believe, broadly speaking,
correct, and are corroborated by my own inquiries
on the
spot,
by the accounts of experts, and by the

by the Transcaspian Eailway
results so far exhibited
returns.
In this relation the Eussians have acted with
Compolicy and
success of
Russia
commendable judgment from the start. Before the

line was pushed on to the Oxus and Bokhara, a
commission was appointed to report upon the prin1
Vide No. 71 of the Miscellaneous Series of Foreign
1887.
Office Reports,

cipal lines of
communication and trade
to specify the points whither to attract
repel commercial intercourse.
arteries,
279
and
and where
to
In accordance with
recommendations, the line was designed to correspond with the principal caravan routes and water-
its
In 1884 the telegraph wire was extended to

Bokhara, so as to enable the merchants of that great
emporium to be in touch with the fluctuations of the
ways.
European market and vice versd. How rapid and

how complete has been the mercantile conquest
which Eussia
has
subsequently achieved
in
the
Tartar capital my remarks in an earlier chapter have

shown. At the present moment she may be said to
have absolute command, so
far as
European imports
and a few
are concerned, of the Bokharan market
years ago the
'
Turkestan Gazette boasted of having
destroyed foreign i.e. English trade to the value

of 750,OOOZ. with Bokhara alone.
In Turkestan the
old
caravan
route
vid
Kazalinsk
and Orenburg,
which occupied from sixty to a hundred and twenty

days, has been partially deserted in favour of the
longer but more expeditious journey by the
rail-
way.
Simultaneously with these results must be noticed
the fiscal policy deliberately pursued by Eussia
.
throughout her dominions, and nowhere with

compunction or quarter than in Central Asia.
less
In
August 1887, the Eussian Minister of Finance, paying an official visit to the Great Fair at Nijni
Novgorod, addressed to the assembled merchants
this remarkable message from the Czar
:
economic
policy of
strict protection
230
The Emperor has ordered me to tell the merchants and

manufacturers here assembled that the successes of Russian
trade and industry are always dear to his heart, and that he
considers those successes as the most important functions of
and that he will regard every service

life of the State
rendered for the furtherance of Russian trade and industry
as a meritorious act accomplished for the good of the State.
the
measures latterly adopted for stimulating

Russian trade and industry were conceived and ordered to
.
All
the
be carried out by the Emperor.
He directs, and
will continue
economic and financial policy of the country,

benign initiative proceeds immediately from him.
to direct, the
and
all
Here was a direct proclamation of the principle

of a national economic policy, and the arrogation
of an Imperial authority for the rigid protective
system that is now being unflinchingly applied from
the Baltic to the China Seas.
its
Iii
opera
central
Central Asia
policy has been
this
with deadly consequences to
and most of
Russia
in the
all
pursued
other competitors,
to the sole serious competitor with
In 1881
Great Britain.
main
all
British
all
European
i.e.
products were, witli a few speciexcluded from the Eussian
fied exceptions, absolutely
At the same time heavy

possessions in Central Asia.
duties were imposed upon Indian products, such as
tissues, indigo,
and
teas,
duced 25,000. upon

2
through Afghanistan.
1
the
tariff
which
Indian
in
1886 pro-
goods imported
In Russian territory special
Vide No. 08 of the Miscellaneous Series of Foreign
Office Reports,
1889.
2
The customs regulations for the present year in Russian Turkestan
were promulgated as follows in the Turkestan Gazette of May 1889
I. All imports from other parts of the Russian Empire, and all
:
281
is
given to Russian importation,
while exemptions are granted to neighbouring native
states.
The fiscal policy of Eussia may be described,
encouragement
therefore, as prohibitory towards Great Britain, as re-
towards India, as differential towards other

Eastern countries, and as protective towards herself.
strictive
In Afghanistan this policy

i.
-.
is
producing results of
//
a twofold and marked significance.
It is
expanding
merchandise and products from Bokhara, Khiva, and China, are admitted free of customs duties into Russian Turkestan,with the exceptions mentioned in IIT.
II. The importation of Anglo-Indian, Afghan, Persian, Turkish,
and Western European goods not enumerated in III., and also of
powder and warlike stores, is forbidden.
III. The following articles may only be imported on payment of
duty as set forth
Precious stones, real and imitation, pearls, garnets, and unworked coral at 4 roubles S kopecks per poud.
(2) Laurel leaves and berries at 2 r. 21 k. per poud.
(1)
Spices at duties varying between Gr. and 24
r. per poud.
Sugar products, mainly confectionery and preserves, at 1 r. 65 k.
2>er poud.
(5) Tea at 14 r. 40 k. per poud.
(H)
(4)
(7)
Indigo at 6 r. per poud.

Boots and shoes of Indian leather at 1
(S)
Muslin at Ir. per
(0)
r.
19k. per
Ib.
Ib.
(9) Coral, worked and threaded, at 6r. 72k. per Ib.

Early in the same year a decree was published for the establishment of a special customs service in Transcaspia (vide the Kavkas
newspaper, March 29, 1889), which contained these, among other, pro-
visions
European, Anglo-Indian, and Persian goods, brought by land

from abroad into the Transcaspian province are subjected to an ad
valorem duty of 2j? per cent.
II. Goods passing through the custom house at Uzun Ada for
European Russia or the Caucasus are to pay the full European tariff,
deducting the amount already paid under I.
Since then, however, an official proclamation has been issued at
Askabacl, declaring that all goods from Persia will be allowed free
a privitransit through Transcaspia if sent via Uzun Ada and Baku
lege which had previously been conceded to Persian trade passing
through the Caucasus^. (Board of Trade Journal, June 1889.)
I.
Russian
trade with
Afghan-
282
with great rapidity the interchange of commercial relations between the markets of Northern Afghanistan
and the neighbouring Eussian or Eussianised provinces,

Eussia with a
particularly Bokhara thus providing
new outlet for her manufactures at the same time that
;
she
is
politically the gainer
by the establishment of
friendly relations with the Afghans.
In the second
crushing British Indian commercial competition in Afghanistan, not merely in the North, but
even as far South as Kabul, and is ousting English
place,
it is
more field of hitherto undisputed

few words about each of these re-
trade from one
triumph.
sults.
imorts
The trade between Afghanistan and Bokhara is

caravan-borne, and is principally in the hands of
Bokharan merchants though a case has been heard
of a Eussian merchant proceeding to Charvilayet, and
The
successfully trading there in Eussian sugar.
;
Afghan markets immediately served by the caravans

are those of Maimena, Andkui, Shibergan, Akcha,
and Siripul and the chief imports from Afghanistan,
;
exclusive of the Indian transit trade, which consists
of green
tea,
indigo,
drugs,
and English muslin,

and fox-
brought vid Kabul, are wool, sheep, lamb,

skins, oil seed,
and pistachio nuts.
The main Eussian
exports to Afghanistan are printed goods, sugar, lump,
and candy, trunks, iron, hardware, copper,

drugs, and matches. The Eussian Journal of the
Ministry of Finance for 1889 has published the fol-
moist,
lowing figures of this Eusso-Afghan trade for the past

year, during which time it suffered seriously from the
283
general disturbance arising out of the rebellion of

Is-hak Khan.
Imporl of Goods
June 1888
to
Bokhara from Afghanistan.
(before the rebellion)
.215,890
July
August
80,720
September
45,924
October
88,611
November
December
48,812
55,414
8,511
Export of Russian Goods

June 1888
to
Afghanistan from Bokhara.
(before the rebellion)
128,581
July
54,558
August
September
38,669
53,241
ctobei
55,864
November
December
j
)
5,417
The above
figures indicate both the high level of
business transactions between Russia and Afghanistan

that has already been reached in time of peace, and
the complete dislocation arising from warlike proceedIn the settlement that has since ensued, the
ings.
probably be as rapid although the exorbitant transit dues charged by the Afghans, which
rebound
will
have had the
effect, as
stated in a previous chapter,
of diverting some of the trade to the ridiculously

circuitous route from the Persian Gulf to Askabad,
will for a time exercise a restrictive influence.
Never-
theless the official report does not hesitate to conclude

'
that,
notwithstanding recent political complications,
Northern Afghanistan presents a market in which

Eussian goods find a ready sale, and compete success-
S84
fully
with Anglo-Indian and other European merchan-
dise.'
It is in the latter respect that the
AngloIndian
r
t
Bit
!3
will find
Englishmen
most cause
apprehensions
for legitimate
Afghanistan has long arid naturally
provocation.
been regarded as the private preserve of English

traders, who, in the absence of competition from the
North, distributed their goods throughout the country
by means of native caravans, penetrating the main
Some of these goods merely

passes from British India.
the
passed through
country on their way to the now
Kussianised markets of Central Asia
a trade which,
such products or
though
manufactures as Russia cannot herself provide, is
crippled by the double deadweight of Afghan and
exists in the case of
it still
llussian prohibitory tariffs, and is brought to an absolute standstill in winter or in times of political dis-
turbance.
Its decline
may be
illustrated
showing that the transit trade vid Herat
by returns
and Kerki to
Bokhara, which in 1881 amounted to 3,600 camel

loads and 1,025 tons weight, sank in 1884 to 1,700
camel loads and 490 tons weight, and has since all
but vanished
while during the
autumn and winter
of last year (1888) communication by caravan between

Kabul and Bokhara ceased altogether.
British
trade with
Afghan-
But the diminution, or even the
extinction, of this
than the progressive

expulsion of British and Indian manufactures from
the markets of Afghanistan itself.
The statistics of
transit trade
is
less significant
exports from the Punjab into Afghanistan exhibit a

steady decline Kabul and Herat uo longer look to
;
285
India alone for their foreign or European supplies

and the latest official report of the Indian Government
;
contains these words
The trade with parts beyond Quetta is as yet not large,

and perhaps it can hardly be expected to become so until
Kandahar is reached. Trade with Kabul is not progressing
it might have been expected to do, seeing that the railway
runs right up to its border, and that the country has been
free for the last few years from serious political convulsions.
as
Whether the stagnation
of the trade
is
to be attributed to
Russian customs restrictions on the border of Northern Afghanistan, impeding the progress of transit trade between India
and Central Asia, or to the illiberal fiscal reyimeof the Amir,

or to tribal disturbances from time to time, it is certain in
any case that the trade gives no indication of material increase.
The sale of Russian goods is stated in a Consular report to bo
yearly increasing in Persia and in the neighbouring Afghan
territory, from which British goods are being driven out,.
1
is
The general commercial outlook

good for Russia as it
....
therefore as
in Central Asia
discouraging
is
Similar testimony may be cited

from other quarters. The report of Russian trade for
for Great Britain.
the year 1887 contained this paragraph
Traders from Khiva, Bokhara, Tashkent, Persia, and even

Asia Minor, are said to have made considerable purchases of
Russian cotton goods at the Fair of Nijni Novgorod in 1887,
instead
of,
as formerly, supplying themselves with English
productions, which they obtained through Batoum, Asia

Minor, and Persia. The closing of Batoum as a free port,
the abolition of the transit trade across the Caucasus, and the
construction of the Transcaspian Railway have undeniably

resulted in the acquisition of
1
1889.
new markets
for
Russian manu-
Statement of the Trade of British India from 1883-88. London,
Quotation
Foreign
Kc-
Office
r*
286
facturers in the far East, to our clear disadvantage.
Accord-
ing to the report of the Governor of the Transcaspian region,

the sale of Russian goods is not only yearly increasing in
Persia (especially at Kuchan, Bujnurd, and Meshed), but is
driving British goods out of the neighbouring Afghan terri-
Bokhara is reported to
be replete with the products of Russian manufacture. The
Russian diplomatic agent there states that English goods are
tory, as, for instance, out of Herat.
not able to compete with Russian products, and that English

prints are rarely to be met with at present in Bokhara.
Native dealers of the Caucasus, Trans-Caucasus, and Turkish

Armenia are reported to have also become large purchasers
Great Britain, which forof Russian manufactured goods.

the
almost
merly enjoyed
monopoly of the trade in most of
these parts,
now receding there, commercially, into the

The Governor-Gen oral of Turkestan confirms
is
background.
the report of his colleague of the Transcaspian region as to

the increasing demand for Russian goods in Central Asia.
1
Of
this
import and export trade the Transcaspian
acquiring the entire monopoly, conveying to the Caspian, and so to Europe, the cotton,
the raw and dyed silk, the silk and cotton tissues,
Railway
is
fast
the velvets, sheepskins, carpets, leather, dried fruits,

goats' hair, camels' hair,
and
furs of the East
and
flooding the Oriental markets in return with the prints,
muslins, calicoes, broadcloth and brocades, the hides,
and implements, cutlery, chinaware, glass,

2
jewellery, candles, and lamps of European Russia.
If we turn from the eastern to the western
region
iron tools
of influence
1
i.e.
from Turkestan and Bokhara to
No. 447 of the Annui Series of Foreign Office Reports, 1889.

*
The value of Russian exports over her entire Asiatic frontier,
which in 1884 was 2,470,OOOJ., rose in 1886 to 8,530,OOOZ. ; the value of
imports from Asia rose in the same period from 3,620,0002. to 4,530,000.
(Vide Board of Trade Journal, p. 505, 1887.)

Kliorasan and North Persia
287
the results are not less

monopoly
from an
or,
significant,
English
of
point
view, mNorthem
have
already pointed out the

enormous advantage which the completion of the
railway gives to Eussia in the practical control of
I
unsatisfactory.
Khorasan.
This province, perhaps the wealthiest

and most fertile in Persia, is approached by three
main caravan routes: (1) the Azerbaijan route vid

Tabriz, Teheran, and Shahrud (2) the Bender Abbas
or Bushire routes from the Persian Gulf; and (3)
;
Astrabad or Shahrud routes from the Caspian.

For Southern and Central Persia, and even for
thp
Southern Khorasan, the roads from the Persian Gulf

such imports as
will retain their hold, especially for
but for the towns of Bujnurd, Kuchan,

Bereguez, Kelat, and Meshed, the two northern
Indian teas
already being superseded by the new

Eussian road, in connection with the railway, over
The latest Foreign
the Kopet Dagh from Askabad.
routes are
Office
Eeport says
East of Teheran, towards Meshed, and in Mazenderan,

English prints are beaten by Russian productions, and in
Mazenderan it would even be difficult to find a piece of
It is useless to attempt to compete with
English origin.
Russian sugar in North Persia. ... In general hardware
and cutlery Russia appears to be taking the lead with cutlery
and plated goods from Warsaw, although the expense of
.
carriage
is
greater than that from Sheffield.
North of
Ispahan the crockery and glassware are almost exclusively

supplied by Russia and Austria.
'
Simultaneously the British Consul at Constanti1
No. 119 of the Miscellaneous Series of Foreign Office Beports, 1889.
2S8
nople, in his report for the years
887 and 1888 on
the trade of that place, speaks as follows
Largo wholesale import houses in Constantinople, which

and acted
formerly did business with Persia and Central Asia,
middlemen between European manufacturers and the
as
have in recent years lost their customers and are gradually disappearing. This is owing in a
measure to new and more direct routes having been thrown
merchants of those
parts,
opon to markets that were formerly supplied from Constantinople. ... In Persia, the provinces of Azerbaijan, Khoi, and
Mazanderan alone continue
to take their supplies by way of

then
and
Constantinople,
only when the Russian competitionso.
of
their
... Trade with Persia vid Condoing
permits
stantinople during the years 1887 and 1888 was not satisfacDealers in Manchester goods suffered considerably,
tory.
owing partly to Russian competition and

rate of exchange prevailing at Odessa.
also to the
high
Kindred testimony
at Tabriz,
borne by the French Consul

in a letter to the Moniteur Officiel du
who
is
July 1888, attributed the increase of

trade between Persia and Russia to three causes (1)
the proximity of Russia and facility of transport to
Commerce,
in
good markets,
produce
(2) the large
in the
consumption of Persian
neighbouring Russian territory, and
Baku, which has already had an immense influence on Persian trade.

He added, It seems likely that the trade of Europe
(3) the institution of the fair at
with Persia will be very seriously affected indeed by

the influences which are linking that country in a
closer commercial union with Russia.
But it is Eng-
land which will suffer most by the

*
.
No. 537 of the Annual Series of Foreign
new
situation
Office Eeports, 1889.
for
289
Russia makes muslins of better quality than those of

Manchester; and when the price of the Russian muslins,
which
is
rather high at present in consequence

fall a little, the English
of their novelty, begins to
manufacturers will have no chance of competing with

those of Russia.'
In other words, British manufactures and products

are being rapidly exterminated from a field in
which
they once held undisputed sway and, while Great

Britain looks on with stolid surprise and British
;
merchants
offer
the
other
Russian commercial control
cheek
is
the
to
smiter,
assuredly paving the

1
way to ultimate political amalgamation.

And yet we have already had sufficient warning
a
little
further west, in the case of the overland trade
with North and North-west Persia.
The
abolition of
Batoum
as a free port in 1886, de-
stroyed an important branch of British trade both with

Transcaucasia and with Persia, that formerly either
crossed to
Baku and
the Caspian or entered Persia vid
Poti or Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, and Erivan to Tabriz,

to the value of nearly 1,000,0002. a year.
contended
that this trade
was merely diverted
If
it
be
to the
longer and more costly Trebizond route, the returns of

British imports into Persia by the latter can be quoted
as affording a conclusive demonstration of the positive
1
I have discussed at greater length and with additional evidence
the commercial rivalry between Russia and England in Central Asia in
a paper read before the British Association at Newcastle in September,
1889,
and published
in the Asiatic Quarterly
Review
Northern
Persia
the transit trade across the Caucasus in 1883, and

the closing of
British
trade with
for October.
290
loss incurred.
For, so far from the Trebizond figures
showing an increase, as they might be expected

in
to do,
Batoum line, they
consequence of the closing of the
exhibit a steady annual reduction

three recorded years
during the
last
1880
1883
1882
1881
1884
1885
1880
1887
648,921 527,402 679,428 652,823 704,498 578,850 522,480 471,700
while the report of the trade of Trebizond for the

year 1887 contains the accompanying admission that
the decrease in cotton goods, especially from the
United Kingdom, is to be explained by the greater
'
importation of Russian
stuffs,
which appears
to
be
yearly on the increase, that of Trebizond alone figur-
Com-
l
ing for 1887 as 10,000/., against 1,920/. in 1886.'
From all this evidence it results that in the
Caspian
of excluding Great Britain from the markets

policy
of Persia, as from those of Central Asia, Russia,
Hallway
whose motto
'War
is
marked success
to the Knife/
and that
is
attaining a
to this success the Trans-
caspian Eailway is contributing in no slight degree.

Russian eyes are open, even if British eyes are shut,
and there are those in Eussia
to this consummation
;
who
see clearly
enough the great commercial future
with proper management, may await the TransIn 1886, M. Palashkofski, builder of
caspian line.
that,
the Caucasian Eailway, proposed the formation of a

company in order to buy the line as far as the Oxus,
on condition of a Crown guarantee of four-and-a-half

per cent, interest on the shares to be issued, and a
1
No. 342 of the Annual Series of Foreign Office Eeports, 1888.
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSOASPIAN RAILWAY
291
yearly subsidy from the Government for militarj

Though the capital subscribed would
transport.
have been acceptable to the Russian Government, the
proposal was not entertained, being in direct conflict

with the present imperial policy. Quite lately, how-
rumours have been heard of a great mercantile

combination which is to embrace Eastern Europe
ever,
and the whole of Central Asia, including Persia and

Afghanistan, witli the Transcaspian Railway as its
Simultaneously, it is announced that the inpivot.
creasing need for banking accommodation in Central
Asia is to be met either by the foundation of a new
Caspian Bank, with branches in each of the leading

Asiatic
cities,
or
by extending the operations of
already existing institutions, such as the Imperial

Russian Bank, or the Caucasus and Mercury Trading
Company.
These vague reports, which
growing confidence
in
illustrate a
the enterprise, tend also to
attach credit to the statement, recently circulated,

that General
AnuenkofFs
line is already
beginning to
working expenses, and that whispers of a

1
surplus have actually been heard.
defray
its
Finally, I pass to the strategical consequences of

1
The Pall Mall Gazette, in June 1889, published the report of an
interview with General Annenkoff, in which he declared that in 1888
the Transcaspian BaUway yielded a net profit of 50,00(K. gross receipts
;
having been 240,0002., expenses 190,OOOJ.; and that in 1889 8 per cent,
would be paid to the shareholders. As there are no shareholders but
the Government, we must attribute the latter remark to the faulty comprehension of the interviewer. From later information wo learn that
between January 1 and June 1, 1889, there were conveyed by the

Transcaspian Kailway 49,410 tons of goods, including 14,762 tons of
Asiatic cotton, 11,568 tons of cereals, 6,379 tons of sugar, 834 tons of
linen, 39 tons of silk, and 817 tons of manufactured articles.
u2
292
strategical
conso-
cmanceaof
in discussing which I
Railway,
^
...
speak with the deference incumbent upon a civilian,
though T do not approach the .subject without con-
the
Transcaspiaii
A
shifting of
with others amply qualified on military

grounds to pronounce an opinion.
In this con text (.lie first and most patent conse-
gr&vitym
qiieiice of the
sultation
Asia
railway is that entire shifting of the

(Hint re of
gravity in Central Asia to which I have
more than once
called attention in previous chapters,

the supersession of Turkestan by Transcaspia, the
For the
dethronement of Tashkent by Askabad.
first
fifteen
Asia,
years of Russian dominion in Central

the pivot round which all
Tashkent was
revolved, the military and administrative capital, the

of policy, the starting-point of action.
cradle
Kaufmann and Tchernaieff were successively the
arbiters of the East,
and
in their authority
and inde-
pendence resembled an ancient satrap rather than a
When
summer of 1878, just

before the signature of the Treaty of Berlin, it was
thought desirable by llussia to make a hostile
modern
viceroy.
in the
demonstration against Great Britain in the East, a

which no student of the Central Asian question
should ever lose sight of in his diagnosis of the
fact
was from Tashkent that an expedition
situation,
it
of 20,000
men was equipped and
himself vid Samarkand to

frontier,
in order to
invade, Afghanistan.
Pamir
by Kaufmann
Jam, on the Bokharan
led
menace, and, if necessary, to

It was from Tashkent that the
column, under
General AbramofT, started
through Ferghana and the Alai to operate in the

direction of Kashmir.
the Stolietoff Mission
was simultaneously despatched
No
to Kabul.
upon India was then either

or conceivable for on the other or western
other line
side
was from Tashkent that
Oxus and the Hindu Kush
across the
possible
It
293
of attack
Russians were
the
as
yet only precariously
Krasnovodsk and Tchikishliar on the
established at
eastern shores of the Caspian, and GOO miles of hos-
wilderness separated them from the north-west

In twenty years, however,
outposts of Afghanistan.
tile
has been a wonderful change.

With the
successes of Skobeleff, Transcaspia threw down her
there
Geok Tepe, Askabad,

and
marked
the successive
Sarakhs, Merv,
Penjdeh
first
challenge to Turkestan.
stages
of
the
friendly
Every league of
rivalry.
advance towards Afghanistan was a new point
to
The
the gain of Askabad, to the loss of Tashkent.
the
former had a boundless horizon of activity
latter was forced to sit still.
General AnneiikofTs
;
railway
has
now put
the
coping-stone
upon the
and the Russian Governor-Generalship of

Transcaspia, whether dependent or independent,
edifice
emerges a solid and substantial structure, commanding the nearest approach, and congratulating itself
inheritance of
upon the
Empire
Askabad,
of
at
the
British
the
keys to the Indian

Established at
Crown.
Sarakhs, and at Merv, with frontier
outposts at Pul-i-Khatun and Penjdeh, with a railway station only ninety miles from Sarakhs, which
only 170 miles from Herat, Russia has acquired and has fortified a new line of advance, and
itself is
294
has planted her foot on the path which every Indian

conqueror has trod from Alexander to Nadir Shah.
But the
Greater
so
much
significance of the situation consists not
in
what
future outposts
lies
as in
in front of her present or
what
behind.
lies
Hitherto
a hostile movement against India has involved the

operation of an advanced army severed from its base
by vast distances, by rivers of great width, and by

mountain barriers of enormous height. Had Kauf-
mann marched upon
India through Afghanistan in

he
would
first to cross the Oxus, and
have
had
1878,
then to climb the Hindu Kush, and even so would
only have found himself at Kabul with the passes of
the Sufeid
Koh and Suleiman
and the Indus
ranges between him

whilst his real base at Orenburg, the
furthest point of the then existing railway system,
would
have
been
from
separated
him by
two
Hencethousand miles and by months of time.

forward a similar design may find its execution from
the opposite quarter, and can rest
line of
connection by steam
upon an unbroken
traffic
with the heart of
At
Sarakhs or at Takhta-Bazar the Eussian commander
is in communication
by wire with Tiflis and St.
the empire and the arsenals of
European Eussia.
Petersburg. He can summon to his aid the resources

of the Caucasus from Baku, or of European Eussia
from the Volga
and transporting both or either
;
from the eastern shore of the Caspian by a line of

railway invulnerable to flank attack, can launch
them against the
fortifications
of
Herat or even
meditate a sustained inarch to the Helmund.

Or
me
29t
the
development in the
present situation by a comparison with quite recent
I have already shown the difficulties under
times.
let
illustrate
which an invasion of Afghanistan from the north

would have laboured, and would still labour, if considered apart by itself.
Let us imagine, however,
that Eussia had, at any time during the last twenty
years, contemplated such a move from the opposite or
How would she have
western quarter.
and what would have been her chances

with those of England?
been situated,
as
I will take the
compared
two periods
of 1878 and 1885, the dates respectively of the flight

of Shir Ali from Kabul, and the affray on the Kushk,
both of them occasions on which the possibility of
hostilities
mind.
presented itself very clearly to the Russian

the Russians contemplated an invasion
Had
of Afghanistan in the spring of 1879, their nearest

forces at Krasnovodsk would have been separated by
700 miles from Herat, the intervening desert being

occupied by savage and hostile tribes, flushed with
recent
victory
over
Lomakin's
The
battalions.
Kandahar, were only 390

an advantage to the British of 310
British, in possession of
miles distant,
miles.
As
late
even as 1883, before Merv had been
annexed, and while the railway terminus was

Kizil Arvat, the late Sir 0.
still
at
MacGregor, then Quarter-
in India, who displayed a surer

the
military situation than any coninsight
temporary officer or statesman, wrote as follows
master-General
into
we
am having two
could put
0,000
papers got ready
men
one to show how soon
into Herat, another
how
soon the
Comparin f
sent with
296
Russians could do the same.
we could beat them
How
We
lut every dtnj
are about equal now,
tells
against us.
and
true were these concluding words
is
shown
the contrast presented within less than two years.

In April 1885, when the two countries trembled on
by
the brink of war, the situation
had
positively been
The nominal Eussian outposts were now

Sarakhs, only 170 miles from Herat, while a Cos-
reversed.
at
sack force was actually in possession of Pul-i-Khatun,

In the meantime
forty miles further to the south.
the British
had increased instead of diminishing
their
distance, having retreated to Quetta, a distance of
500 miles from Herat, so that the balance of advanFinally,

tage had swung round to the opposite side.
I
contrast both
these
At
this
positions
moment
with that of the

the most advanced
present year.
point of the Russian frontier, as settled
by the Joint
Commission, is at Chihil Dukhtaran, where is the

23rd boundary pillar, exactly fifty-five miles as the
crow
The
have pushed forward a modest seventy miles from Quetta to Chaman,

but are still 4GO miles from Herat. These figures will
flies
from Herat.
British
prove more plainly than any number of words the prodigious change
transformation
I will go further,
and say the absolute
which the Transcaspian

conquests of the Czar have brought about, and the
seal upon which has been set by the completion of
the
new railway.
which the
in the scene
It
means that the power of menace,
Herat involves, has passed

from English to Russian hands; that the Russian
1
ability to take
Life and Opinions of Sir C. MacGregor>
vol.
ii.
p. 316.
EFFECTS OF TUB TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY

seizure of Herat
as of time
an
effort,
is
now a matter not
so
much
of
297
war
and that the Eussians will thus, without

first hand in the great game that is
win the
destined to be played for the empire of the East.

situation and
These are the advantages
as regards
to
fo
opportunity which
their Transcaspian conquests,
and
Russian
power of
attack
the railway as its sequel, have placed in the Russians'

hands.
I now propose to show to what extent they
them, and what are the counteradvantages or possibilities to be credited to Great
will
be able to
utilise
Britain.
In the event of war being declared between England and Eussia, and the latter deciding upon an
Lines of
invasion of Afghanistan, there would be open to her

two main lines of advance (1) vid the Transcaspian
Eailway and Herat, (2) vid Samarkand and Kilif, or

vid the Oxus and Kerki upon Afghan Turkestan, and
A third column might be
ultimately upon Kabul.
expected to operate in the direction of the upper
Oxus and the Pamir, endeavouring to effect a descent
by lofty but available passes upon Chitral or Gilgit,
and requiring a British counter-movement on the

side of Kashmir.
diversion,
With
the proceedings of this flank
which might be troublesome but could
not be really serious, I am not in this chapter concerned to deal. Our attention may for the moment
be confined to the two former and principal
lines of
advance.
In June 1883, Sir C. MacGregor

wrote the follow- Caspian
^
.and Herat
to
letter
the
Hon.
G.
C.
Major
Napier, than which imo
ing
i.
no clearer illustration could be quoted of the character
298
of the problem, and the proper method to approach

If I do not follow in detail its suggesits solution.
am
dealing with broad considerations of statesmanship rather than with the

tions,
is
it
because I
technical minutice of a military plan of campaign,

the latter a
because upon
layman
is
and
wholly unqualified
to pronounce.
you could write a paper, showing

force of 20,000 men down
out as though you had to put that
I should be obliged if
how soon the Russians could put a

at
Work it
men there, and show where you
Herat.
could get the

how
would
from
where
embark;
;
long they would
troops
they
take to get to the east coast (of the Caspian) how long to
number
of
what route they would take (1) supposing Persia

was openly on their side, (2) if she was passive, (3) if she
was hostile; what supplies would they require; what baggage;
what transport they would have to take at least two heavy
what would be the best means which
batteries with them
disembark
could be devised for ensuring that we should receive very

1
early and reliable information of what Russia was doing.
stmgth
ttonofiiie
forcoJ in
The normal strength of
the
Russian forces in
about 14,000 men.
This includes
Transcaspia
eleven or twelve infantry battalions, one brigade or
two regiments of Cossacks, companies of which are
is
along the frontier, and four batteries of

artillery with thirty guns. In the spring of this year,
in anticipation of possible trouble upon the Afghan
scattered
was reported to have been increased

by several thousand men. The points at which the
frontier, this total
troops
are
chiefly
concentrated are Kizil Arvat,
Askabad, Oeok Tepe, Sarakhs, Merv, and

1
Life and Opinions*
vol.
ii.
p. 815.
Amu
Baria.
299
Detachments are also distributed among the more

advanced posts of Kaahka, Pul-i-Khatun, Takhta
Bazar, and along the line of the Murghab at Meruchak,
and Imam Baba. 1
delay would
be experienced in placing these forces in the field,
seeing that they are already almost upon a war footSari Yazi,
But
little
Garrison duty would, however, detain one-third

not one-half of the total number. To the available
ing.
if
strength must be added the local militia, at present

only three hundred strong, but capable, as I have
before pointed out, of large and rapid extension.
At
this point the
enormous
utility of the
Trans-
Reinforce-
mentsfrom
Caspian Kail way becomes apparent, as the first line Europe

of communication through the Caspian with the
Caucasus and with Europe i.e. with the armies of

Tiflis, and of European Russia south of Moscow.
The former has a nominal strength on a peace footing of 101,500, and a mobilised strength of 270,000
men, and would naturally be set in motion from
Tiflis and Baku, or perhaps if the battalions called
out were stationed on the north of the Caucasus
Range, from Vladikavkas and Petrovsk. The European
contingent would be deposited by rail on the Volga
at Saratov and Tsaritsin, and would consist of such
troops as could be spared from the army corps of
Carried in river
Moscow, Kharkov, and Kazan.
steamers
down
to Astrakhan, they
would be
trans-
shipped there for Uzun Ada. It is conceivable that

a joint army of 150,000, or even of 200,000 men
1
Vide the narrative of the Comte de Cholet, Voyage en Turkestan,
pp. 106, 120, 181, 199.
"
300
might, in the event of no complications being apprehended on the western frontiers of Russia, be detached
from these two bases, and

no great delay, be placed upon the
for Central Asian service
Difficulty
of CaBpian
marine
might, witli
western shores of the Caspian.
Here, however, the Eussians would be confronted
w ith
from the dearth of
their first difficulty, arising
marine transport. The last ten years have witnessed

an astonishing development of navigation on the
Caspian, the petroleum industry of
being responsible for an entire

steamers,
owned by
of magnificent
private firms, and specially con-
structed for the carriage of
ment been altogether

subsidised
fleet
Baku in particular
idle
fleet
Nor has the Govern-
oil.
;
for
in addition to the
of the Caucasus and Mercury
Com-
pany, whose vessels were used for military transport

in the
Turkoman campaigns, and would again be
serviceable, there
is
a small naval
flotilla,
consisting
of gunboats, armed steamers, and steam barges, with
a complement of less than 1,000 men.
No call has
arisen for the augmentation of this force, the Persians
being prohibited by treaty from keeping any men-ofwar, or building any
forts,
upon
the Caspian, which
therefore very justly described as a Russian lake,

whereupon no hostile attacks need be apprehended.
is
Latcs
The
latest returns of the
Caspian marine (Sep-
tember 1888) show that the Government possess 70

steamers of varying tonnage, and that 10 new iron
steamboats were added in the past year. The total
number of steamers in the merchant fleet of the Caspian
at the
same time was 790. Of sailing
vessels there
EFFECTS OF THE TRAN8CASPIAN RAILWAY

is
of course a
much larger number (from 1,200
301
1,500).
has recently been proposed by a Nijni Novgorod

firm to establish a naval dockyard at one of the prinIt
The above figures show that, as regards

numbers, the Russians would be in no want of vessels.
How far (lie latter would be suited to purposes of
transport, and with what speed they could convoy
cipal ports.
large bodies of troops to the opposite shore, is a matter

of greater uncertainty. Anyhow naval transport must
be reckoned upon as a certain difficulty at the start,

and as a probable delay to aggressive movements.
second
difficulty
quate and backward
upon the eastern
would
arise
from the inade-
Difficulty
for
disembarkation
places
facilities
shore.
Uzun Ada
mg
"
in its present
quite unsuited for the speedy or continuous discharge of large bodies of troops, or
unlading of animals and stores, affording a shallow
anchorage at the best, besides being frequently frozen
condition
is
over in the winter.
Krasnovodsk would be the best
and obvious landing-place, but

by rail with the main line.
is
not yet connected
The troops once landed upon the eastern

the railway would of course transport them
front with as
shore,
to the
much rapidity as the amount of available
rolling-stock and the stability of the line, points upon

which I have already dwelt, would allow. At this
juncture however would emerge, in all its seriousness,

the third and main difficulty, occasioned by the lack
of supplies, the scarcity of forage and fuel, and the insufficient provision of transport animals. How serious
is
this question of
food alone, few probably
who have
Difficulty
BUpple3
302
not had some experience of warfare can realise.

The late Colonel Home in his Precis of Military
Tactics compared an army on the march with a very
'
'
large city, and thus contrasted the
two
situations
Each day Ji large city receives its daily supply of food.

There is no stint nor stay for those who can purchase. Long
custom and gradual improvements have opened up easy
means of communication between the consumer and the
with an army. An army is a city
in the country, each day moving, each
day requiring fresh alterations in the arrangements by which
Yet
food is conveyed froin the producer to the consumer.
It is different
producer.
Hung down suddenly
one of the most, if not the

this portion of the art of war
most important receives but scant notice.
In a country like Transcaspia
would be abnormally
to expect the
their present
severe.
Turkoman
oases,
It
these
difficulties
would be too much
which barely support
meagre population,
to provide suste-
nance in addition for several scores of thousand armed
men
with their baggage animals and camp following.

In the campaign of 1880 81, Skobeleff was almost
wholly dependent for his grain supplies upon Northern

Many scores of pages in General GrodekofFs
Persia.
account of the war are devoted to the record of that

officer's
ment,
labours, on behalf of the victualling departKhorasan ; and after SkobelefF's first recon-
in
naissance, nearly five
months were spent
in
collecting
and concentrating supplies in Transcaspia before the

forward move was made. After the fall of Geok Tepe
and seizure of Askabad,
plies,
it
was the exhaustion of sup-
rather than pacific intentions, that prevented the
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSGASPIAN RAILWAY
303
Eussians from occupying in force the Atek oasis, and
even pushing on as far as the Tejend.

In time of war grain would also be required in en11
ormous quantities for the horses, mules, and camels
1-1
importance of
Khorasan
any serious forward inarch were

meditated either upon the Ilelmund or into Afghan
whilst of the latter,
if
Turkestan, at least 100,000 would be necessary, at

the average rate in Central Asian warfare of one
other words, as large a number
In the total
as exists in the whole of Transcaspia.
camel per man,
or, in
absence of timber the fuel needed for cooking and

other practical purposes would have to be imported.
These considerations throw a light upon the immense

importance which Russia attaches to the control of
Khorasan, a country well-wooded, of abundant fertility
and great natural resources.
They explain her
feverish eagerness to strengthen her hold in that
quarter ; and they suggest the conjecture that no
forward move on a large scale will be attempted till

In any
that wealthy province is wholly in her hands.
case, the paucity of local contributions
certain that an
army advancing from
renders
it
the Caspian
must be largely dependent for its supplies upon

European Russia and the conveyance of these by
train to the front, and return of empty wagons, would
;
both exhaust a good deal of the available rollingstock,
and by occupying the
line,
would retard the
despatch of troops to the theatre of war.

I do not include in the category of impediments
to Russia's
advance the likelihood of her communica-
tions being cut
by a
flank attack, or of the railroad
complicity
ersm
RUSSIA TN CENTRAL ASIA
304
being torn up between the Caspian and 1 hishak, hopeful as some English writers appear to be of such a
(Contingency.
Flank attack from the north over the
barren waste of the Kara Kuiu

bility
a physical impossiover the Persian mountains from the south a
practical impossibility.
is
Were Persia
hostile to Russia,
connection with Teheran could easily be cut off at

the narrow neck of land, only sixty miles broad, be-
tween Astrabad and Shahrud
whilst
the Persian
Khorasan by themselves are not worth a

row of ninepins. But Persia is not., and, when war
troops in
breaks out, will not be hostile to Russia. On the

contrary, Russia will not go to war unless she has
assured herself, not merely of Persian neutrality, but
of Persian connivance ; and those who talk of a
Persian alliance to co-operate with England in the
defence of Khorasan, or in an attack upon Transcaspia, are doing the worst service they can to their
country by beguiling her with the most phantasmagorical and hopeless of

Addition to
rower'of
illusions.
have named above,

while they modify the alarm which might at first
thought be excited by the position and strength of
The considerations which
Russia in Transcaspia, and while they justify the belief

that a larger army than 50,000 men could not without
considerable delay be placed, or without vast preparation be maintained, upon the Russo-Afghan frontier
from
this side,
do not substantially
alter the central
that a
movement upon
and all-important
fact, viz.
Herat, the Ilelmund, or Kandahar, which four years
ago was almost an impossibility by
this
route, has,
EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCASPIAX RAILWAY
305
since the completion of the Transcaspian liailway,
become a measure of practicable strategy, and has

thereby more than duplicated the offensive strength
When we include in our survey
of Kussia in Asia.
the forces of Turkestan, and remember that an hidependent though allied movement would simultaneously be in course of execution from that quarter,
shall better understand how tremendous that
we
strength has
So
far
now become.
our attention has been confined to Trans-
Turning thence
that dominion there
caspia.
*
to Turkestan,
we
find that ofTurketitan
a present force of some

of
5,000 horses, and of GO guns, partly
30,000 men,
scattered over a wide extent, but the main and most
in
available elements of
is
which are stationed
at
Tashkent
and Samarkand, with advanced detachments at Katta

Kurgan on the TJokharan frontier, and at Kerki on
the Oxus.
Of
army, reinforced as it might be by

a large contingent from the neighbouring military
this
Omsk, at least 20,000, if not 30,000 men,

be
forthcoming for active service, the reserves
might
being called out for garrison duty in Turkestan. Nor
district of
would such a force operate alone

difficulty attending the transport
for, in face
of the
and sustenance of
men from the Caspian, other

routes
marching
might be adopted by which the resources of European Eussia might be transported to
Samarkand and the Oxus, either by the Orenburg
very large bodies of
postal road to Tashkent, or
by the waterway of the

Duration of time must be postu-
Oxus to Tcharjui.
lated of the former route, uncertainty, arising from
x
army
306
the precarious river navigation, of the second whilst

in both cases the winter months would not be avail;
able as a season for advance, which could only be

Nevertheless
effected in the early spring or summer.
the Turkestan
numbers
in
either, if
army might by these means be doubled
while the force so congregated could

required, effect a junction with the Trans;
raspian column at Merv, or, as
is
much more
pro-
bable,
might be equipped to execute an independent
attack
upon Afghan Turkestan, descending upon the

of the Oxus at Kerki or Kilif and marching
ferries
Balkh and Tashkurgan upon Bamian, and the

Diffipasses of the Hindu Kush that lead to Kabul.
vid
and forage would attend

and hamper the Turkestan, no less than the Transcaspian, column, and were in fact experienced by
culties of transport, supplies,
Kaufmann's threatened expedition
in 1878.
But the
of the Zerafshan. basin, as well as the great

resources of Bokhara, which would now be placed
fertility
entirely at the disposal of Russia (as they

then),
would vanquish these
the Eastern
army
less
obstacles,
dependent upon
were not
and render
its
base than
the Western.
Total
Russian
strength
forinva*ion
Comparing and combining the probable strength

of the two forces, we may
J arrive at the conclusion that
t
it
would be possible
for Russia, after long preparation,
and
at a suitable season of the year, to place, by the

aid of the Transcaspian Railway, in conjunction with
previously existing
100,000 men
in all
facilities,
upon
frontiers of Afghanistan.
twofold
the North-west
Sir Charles
force of
and Northern
MacGregor,
in
EFFECTS OF TIIE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY

his
307
famous unpublished memorandum on the Defence
summed up
of India,
argument with the conclu-
his
sion that Russia could put 95,000 regulars, within
eighty to one hundred days from the period of summons, into a position whence she could undertake the
invasion of India
l
;
an opinion with which
my own
argument is fortunate in finding itself in harmony.

The further, however, she advanced from her double
base, the greater, as has frequently
would be the
difficulty
Skobeleff once said that
the provision of supplies.

it
was
army
been remarked,
and danger connected with
useless to think of invading India without
of
50,000
men
and 90,000
to
last
might now change
totals
an
60,000 to enter the country
The two
guard the communications.

places, the
position being so well assured that
mutiny
Russian
in the rear
improbable, and that a

force
much
relatively
larger
might therefore be detached for invasion than would be required cither for
upon the Hank
or attack
is
The calculagartison service or to guard the lines.

tions I have given will show that the sum-totals are
not so overwhelming as to be beyond
all
means of
whilst,
they were, the danger would
one whit diminished of what is a more pro-
realisation
if
not be by
bable contingency by far than so ambitious a programme, namely, a swoop either upon Herat or upon
Afghan Turkestan
occupy and to
but with no immediate
in sufficient force to
hold either of those
districts,
intention of pushing onwards either to
the
Hindu Rush. This

1
is
Kandahar or
the peril which England has
Life and Opinions,
vol.
ii.
p.
842
seq.
x2
308
to face
t
strength
Indian
army
for
offonmvn
tmrpowjH
and within
this
more limited range of action
he Transcaspian Hallway has given Russia a vantage-
ground of incalculable importance.

What, however, is the reply that Great Britain
would have it in her power to make to such a chal-
The present st length of the
l(n<rc?
British forces in
almost exactly 70,000 British and 148,000

Of the former certainly not more than
native troops.
Fudia
is
one-half and of the latter an even less proportion could

either be spared for frontier defence or could be kept
any length of time. If the 100,000

men so engaged were further to be divided into three
in the field for
sections, to operate respectively against armies ad-
vancing from Herat, Balkh, and the Pamir, it is clear

that from a numerical point of view the situation
would not be a
further be
sufficiently favourable one.
remembered
It
must
that of the British forces the
major part would be native troops, of the Russian

none at all with the exception of the light cavalry,
and, however gallantly the Sikhs and Ghoorkas and
Indian native cavalry, or even the Sepoys, might or
they would necessarily be placed at a

disadvantage when competing with the trained Euro-
would
fight,
pean soldiers of the Czar.
have not taken into
account the armies of the feudatory princes in India,

numerically important though they be because little
;
reliance could be placed
as
upon their discipline, and perhaps not too much upon their loyalty
and in any case they would be good for little but
yet
Sir Charles Dilke, in the second of

garrison service.
his recent most interesting articles upon the Indian

1
frontier, gives figures substantially corresponding
309
with
He speaks of two army corps, of 35,000

half
each,
European and half Indian, as being
organised on paper, and capable of mobilisation for a
the above.
men
army, with a reserve of 15,000 men, whose place,

however, would have to be filled by six battalions
field
from England. He calculates that the first army corps

could be placed at Kandahar six weeks from the date
of mobilisation, and the second
har or Kabul in three months

differ substantially
Kandawhich do not
army corps
;
figures
at
from the immediate capacities of
Russia in relation to Herat.
When, however, we turn from
the
question of
available troops and the probable period of their advance, to that of reinforcements, whatever advantage,
if any, Great Britain may claim on the former score,
vanishes altogether,
serious, deficit.
or rather
is
converted into a
While Eussia can bring up her
re-
serves from the Caspian, as soon as they are ready

there, to the point of disembarkation from the railway
a week, and can place them

upon the frontier in three weeks or a month, England requires nearly four weeks for her reinforcements
train, in the inside of
week, under the

most favourable circumstances, from there to the
present frontier while the figures previously given
to reach Kurrachi, arid at least a
have shown the
be removed by several hundred miles from the probable theatre of war and openlatter to
ing scene of conflict.

1
We cannot resist
The Baluch and Afghan Frontiers of
niglilly Review, April 1889.
the conclusion,
India.'
No.
II.
Fort-
310
therefore, that
England
is
deplorably in arrear of her
rival in point of time.

The
issue
am
not saying that these inequalities need have

any appreciable effect upon the final issue for most
I
Englishmen have that
faith in British character, for-
by the lessons of English history, which would

enable them to await the denouement without alarm.
tified
Nor am
handicapped as she might find

numbers and in time, Great Britain
would not be able to make an effective retort, even in
I saying that,
herself both in
Afghanistan, to a Russian menace. That is a question

which I am not called upon to discuss here. 1 I am
now merely
pointing out the extent to which the

relative position of the two Powers has been modified
by recent events
in Central Asia,
and contrasting the
advantages which they respectively enjoy. I

showing that while English statesmen have
initial
am
chattered in Parliament, or poured gallons of ink

over reams of paper in diplomatic futilities at the
Foreign Office, liussia, our only admitted rival in the

East, has gone continuously and surely to work, proceeding by the three successive stages of conquest, as-
and consolidation
and that
at this moment,
whether her strength be estimated by topographical
or by numerical considerations, she occupies for
similation,
offensive purposes in Central Asia a position
surably superior to that of England,
immea-
and for defensive
purposes one practically impregnable.

If it be objected to me that I am attributing to
I havo endeavoured briefly to do so in an article, entitled
True Policy in India,' in the National Review for March 1889.
1
Our
311
General Annenkoff 's railway a character and intention

which its promoters
would be loth to admit, and
A
^
crediting
~
it
answer
that
persistently vindicated
its
commercial pretensions,
not the object with which the railway was

originally made, nor is it the light in which it is rethat
is
garded by the bulk of Eussians.

but significant fact that the Eussian
papers,
in publishing
pictures
a trivial
It is
illustrated news-
of the line
surroundings both during and since
its
and
its
construction,
have invariably headed the engravings with the words

On the road to India/ Upon the opening of the last
4
section of the railway as far as
Samarkand
1888, General Soboleffof the General
Staff,
in
May
one of the
foremost Eussian tacticians, and the Eussian historian

of the last Anglo-Afghan war, published an article in
Petersburg, in which he reaffirmed his favourite
contention of the possibility of a Eussian invasion of
St.
and hailed the Transcaspian Eailway as the

beginning of the end, which end was to be nothing
India,
short of a future Eussian campaign across the Indus.

General Prjevalski, in one of his latest letters, dated
from Samarkand only a month before
my
visit to
Transcaspia, recorded his opinion of the line, over which
he had just travelled, in these words
'
:
Altogether the
a bold undertaking, of great significance,

especially from a military point of view in the future.'
railway
views of
with a deliberate share in infamous de-
though General Annenkoff

himself has not ignored, but on the contrary has
signs,
Russian
is
Prjevalski was somewhat of a fire-eater, and no friend

of England ; so that for anyone acquainted with his
as a means
foffeno
KUtfMA IN CENTRAL ASIA
3i*J
quite unnecessary to put the dots on

his i's.
That Russian sympathisers in the foreign
press indulge in similar anticipations, may be illuscharacter,
trated
by
it is
the following extract, translated from the
work of a French
writer,
which has
tance than the candid testimony it

spread existence of this malignant
other imporaffords of the wide110
spirit.
is the man (i.e. Annenkoff) who has just struck a

blow at English power in India. If the end of this
century has witnessed 110 change in the respective positions
of the Russians and English in Asia, wo may expect that
the first years of the new century will produce a sensible
modification in the attitude and power of the two adversaries.
The way is traced ; the roml is free. The Russians are advancing with giant strides, and by a peaceful conquest. The
Such
terrible
Knglish are hated, their authority

vanishing.
The hour
is
is
crumbling, their prestige
drawing near when they
will
at
length have to pay the penalty in India for their intrigues

and villanies in Europe. The day when Russia advances
into the country, and proclaims as a reality the hope of
which the inhabitants have long dreamed, all India will rise
to march in her vanguard and drive the English out.
Im-
General Annenkoff
patient spirits need not wait for long.
lias fashioned the dagger which will be planted in the very
If he were not already
heart of English power in India.
French at heart,
him
this distinction alone
would serve to make
as popular in France as he is in Russia.
"Pitiful
rubbish in truth this
claims to have uttered
it
is
but, as the writer
without rebuff to General
Annenkoff himself, it may be quoted as typical of the

meaner ravings of Russophile Jingoism.
Rnsscs ct AutricMens en robe de chambre.
(Theodore Calm), 1888.
1
Par Theo. Crit
313
CHAPTER IX
TTIK
ANGLO-RUSSIAN QUESTION
Rambtircs. That island of England breeds very valiant creatures

mastiffs arc of unmatchable courage.
Orleans. Foolish curs I that run winking into the
boar,
and have their heads crushed
mouth of a Russian
You may as well
like rotten apples.
say, that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast
on the
SHAKSPEAHK, Henry
It is
d big question, and
a d
their
lip of
V.,
Act
a lion.
iii.
Sc.
vii.
should be glad to think only two or

out but no one seems to care a two-
three were gathered together to think it

;
penny dam. It will not come in their day, but I think
it
will
come
in yours
can't help seeing its magnitude and our carelessness.

Letter of SIK C. MAcGiuwoii to SIR F. UOBEKTH, AIICJ. 13, 1883.
and mine, and
Existence of the problem Personal impressions-- Haphazard character of Russian foreign policy
Arising from form of government
Independence of frontier officers Responsibility for Russian
mala fides
Compulsory character of Russian advance Russian

Russian attack upon India a danger
Candid avowal of Skobeleff Evidence of past history Schemes
conquest of India a chimera

of Russian invasion
(v.)
1855
1878
(i.)
1791,
(ii.)
Gortchakoff-Granvillo
1800,
(iii.)
Skobeleff's plan for the invasion of India
Later movements
1807,
(iv.)
1837,
agreement of 1872-78-
(vi.)
Military operaCivilian endorse-
Subsequent schemes
of Anglo-Russian Question now
universally admitted Russian illusions about British rule in
India Evidence of Russian generals Real feeling in IndiaRegrettable Russian ignorance Russian lines of invasion
(i.)
tions
ment --M.
Zinovieff
Reality
From
From Samarkand and the Oxus New

Russo-Afghan frontier- (iii.) Upon Herat Corresponding Indian
the Pamir,
(ii.)
frontier
Diagram of the two railway systems Comparison of
the rival advantages England's obligations to Afghanistan
Their right interpretation Reductio ad absurdum Counter-
obligations of Afghanistan British relations with Afghanistan

in the past Synopsis of policy pursuedCharacter of Abdurrah-
314
man Khan
health and the future Suggested partition

The Afghan armySentiments of the Afghans
towards llussia and England The future of Afghan independence
Prestige of Russian numbers Policy of appointing British
His
of Afghanistan
Afghanistan Impending developments of the AngloKuBsian question (i.) lialkh-Kabul line of advance (ii.) The
Persian question Russian ascendency and Persian weakness
Real aim of Russian policy in Persia An eye upon the Persian
Gulf- -British policy in rejoinder Opening up of Seistan Effects
officers in
of u Seistan railwayExistence
HUT perhaps
-Summary
may be
it
of this chapter.
said that neither the construc-
of the Transcaspian Hallway, nor the inimical

pretensions with which some persons have credited
tioii
can justify the expression of any real alarm as to

the relations of Great Britain and Russia in the East,
it,
and that the theory of present danger or future comI proceed therefore
a dogmatist's dream.
to discuss the question whether there is, and, if so,
plication
why
is
there
is
an Anglo-Russian Problem
at
all,
to
state the reasons for belief in its positive existence,
present aspect, and to indicate its probable development in the near future. In so doing,
to explain
I shall
its
appeal for evidence to
my own
observations
in the country, to the lessons of history,
and
to the
published opinions of Russian officers and statesmen.

that I am prepared
In the first Aplace let me say
"
impreaKiona.
Haphazard
character
to
make hum* and *perhaps uncommon
concessions to
the Russophile hypothesis, not for argument's sake,
kut Because ^ ie ) are demanded by truth, which has

too often been distorted or lost sight of by both
f
parties in the
wordy
conflict.
am
not one of those
who
hold that Russian policy has, either for a century

or for half a century, or for a less period, been
animated by an unswerving and Machiavellian pur-

pose, the object of
strictly
is
the overthrow of British
which every forward movement

When I was in St. Peterssubordinated.
rule iu India,
is
which
315
and
to
burg there appeared an article in the English Standard which drove the Russian papers into a fury,
by likening their advance in Asia to that of a great
'
glacier crushing everything before

persistence, and,
off
though
its
it
with merciless
vanguard may be broken
and destroyed, ever driven onward by the irresistsnows i.e. the Russian Foreign
ible pressure of the
Office
behind.
more mistaken idea cannot,
So far from regarding the

Russia
as
of
consistent, or remorseless,
foreign policy
or profound, I believe it to be a hand-to-mouth policy,
believe,
be entertained.
a policy of waiting upon events, of profiting by the

blunders of others, and as often of committing the
like
Her
herself.
attitude,
for
instance,
towards
Bulgaria and the Christian nationalities emancipated

by the Treaty of Berlin, has been one long series of
unredeemed and almost inconceivable blunders. The

sole advantages that she has so far reaped from the
settlement of South-east Europe, to which she then
consented, have been the abdications of the two
sovereigns, Alexander of Bulgaria, and Milan of Servia,
and it is not yet clear whether or to what extent she
be the gainer by either.

Nor can I imagine any other policy as possible
,
under a remme where there is 110 united counsel or
will ultimately
-,
plan of action but where the independence of individual generals or governors is modified only by the
personal authority of the Emperor, whose will may
;
Arising
from form
of govern-
RVSMA IN CENTRAL
316
ASIA
override the unanimous vote of his Council of Ministers,
and whose irresponsible
so far from being a
fiat,
guarantee for stability of conduct, too often results in

A sovereign with a very strong characincoherence.
ter
a particular bias to the national policy,

with the die of his own individuality.
may impart
or stamp it
Hut. in the very immensity of his independence there
is latitude for
immensity of error while a weak man,
;
easily guided by others, and, as is common

such
with
natures, by a succession of counsellors,
or a
man
may
create a policy of alternate bravado and vacilla-
mingled strength and imbecility. The Eussian

Government has often been as surprised at its own
tion, of
successes as rival States have been alarmed, and there

is
reason to believe that the
Kushk episode
in
885,
so far from being, as was supposed in England, part

of a deep-laid design, was an impromptu on the part
of KomarofT and AlikhanofT that burst with as
novelty upon the* Foreign Office of

it did
upon that of Whitehall.
frontier
officers
much
Petersburg as
St.
The one department in which Eussian Ministers

have always shown themselves proficient has been in
.
..
turning to good account alike the unexpected services

of their own adherents and the unhoped-for blunders
of their adversaries.
Should a Eussian frontier
make an unauthorised move
officer
involving the rupture of
some diplomatic agreement, but resulting in success,

his offence is condoned and excused
in the case of
;
he
easily disavowed.
It is scarcely possible
to over-estimate the degree in
which the extension of
failure
is
Eussian dominion, particularly in Central Asia, has

been due
to the personal
317
ambition of individuals,
acting in rash independence of orders from home.

When the aggression has taken place and the conquest been made, the Russians are sufficiently cognisant
of Oriental politics, which a far longer

experience has never taught the English to acquire,
not to retreat from the position taken or the advantage
of the
15
Tchernaieff was recalled in 1860 for having

exceeded his orders but the very steps which he
gained.
had taken wore pushed still further by his successor

Romanovski while the general himself was ultimately
;
sent
back
as Governor-General to the province
which as Commander-in-Chief he had been
from
recalled.
more commonly rewarded at once by a

decoration and a jewelled sword from St. Petersburg,
Success
is
mark of the Imperial approbation being

an incentive to the activity of those still unadorned.
The condition of affairs I have described is indeed
every such
inseparable from a system where military

,
-.
where substituted
/.
.,
for civil organisation,
is
-.
every,
and where
work
that requires the genius of the statesman is

The wonder
entrusted to the temper of the soldier.
the
is
that
the breaches of diplomatic usage or inter-
As
obligation are not more frequent.
regards the occurrence of these, and the charges that
have most reasonably been founded upon them of
national
Russian duplicity and mala fides, my only surprise is

not that Russia invented the pleas, or gave the undertaking, but that England, with childlike innocence,
has consented time after time to be gulled by the same
transparent device.
Anything more undignified or
Russian
malafidca
318
now
petulant than the
London Foreign
by a diplomatic
Office,
traditional
which
is
assurance, and
is
action, cannot well be conceived
howl from the
presently appeased
never followed by
and
if
we have
to
complain of being affronted or duped, in many cases

we have only ourselves to thank for the insult. Khiva,
Khokand, Askabad, Merv, and Penjdeh

these?
eases
we
of annexation,
each of
in
raised a pitiable outcry at the prospect
and
in
each case sat down as humbly

it had been successfully
beneath the fact as soon as
For half a century English writers

have proclaimed that the loss of Herat will be the
accomplished.
When
death-knell of India.
blow
the
falls I
am
certain that the British quill will cover reams of fools-
cap, but T
flash
am
not so sure that the British sword will
from the scabbard.
*My journey led me in another respect to modify

the views which are commonly hold in England as to
.
advance
the motive ot Kiissui
advance.
hough
it
may
be
true that in starting eastward from the Caspian, and

in striking at the Turkoman country, Eussia had
England and Afghanistan
in distant view, and

though
a
most significant despatch
quote
from a Russian statesman proving this point, yet it
T shall presently
is
also clear that, once having
embarked upon a career
of Transcaspian conquest, she could not possibly stop

either at Oeok Tepe, or at Baba Durmaz, or at
Sarakhs, or at Merv.
Each
link in the chain as
it
has been forged has already found itself intertwined

with its successor and just as the first forward move
;
into the steppe from
Orenburg was bound
to culmi-
319
nate in the possession of Tashkent, whatever assurances to the contrary might be given by that master
of the Eussian epistolary style, Prince Gortchakoff
so the first Transcaspian muddles of Lomakin were
the inevitable forerunners of Russian barracks at Merv,
and a Eussian bridge over the Oxus. It does not

matter whether the geographical or ethnical
much
Either is equally serviceable

principle be invoked.
for purposes of exculpation.
The fact remains that
any physical obstacle, and in the

enemy whose rule of life was depreda-
in the absence of
presence of an
and who understood no diplomatic logic, but

defeat, Eussia was as much compelled to go forward
and if any have
as the earth is to go round the sun
tion,
a legitimate right to complain of her advance it is

certainly not those who alone had the power to stop
and who deliberately declined to exercise it.

Whilst, however, I have confessed that in entering
her,
TIT
-n
upon her Central Asian career, 1 believe Itussia

have been actuated by no far-seeing policy, and
to
in
have been driven largely by the impulse

pursuing
of natural forces, I am not the less convinced that her
it
to
presence there is a serious menace to India, and that

she is prepared to turn it for her own purposes to the
most profitable account. She is like a man who has

tumbled quite naturally, but very much to his own
surprise, into the inheritance of a wealthy relative, of
he never heard, but of whom he was the unknowing heir and who is not deterred by the adven-
whom
titious source
most
selfish
of his fortune from turning
advantage.
it
to the
Eussia finds herself in a
conquest
of India a
chimera
LV CENTRAL ASIA
RUfUtlA
320
benefit
position in Central Asia when* she ran both
herself by opening up the material and industrial
resources of a continent, and attack

vulnerable*
most
his
formidable adversary whose

hostile to the fulfilment of what
the
point
traditional policy
at
is
she describes as her national aspirations in Europe.

1
do not suppose that a
man
single
in Russia,
the exception of a few speculative theorists
with
and here
and there a giddy subaltern, ever dreams seriously

To anyone, Russian or
of the conquest of India.
who
English,
has even superficially studied the ques-
too preposterous to be entertained.

be an achievement compared with which the
tion, the project

It
would
is
acquisition of India by a trading
one of the phenomena of history

to child's play
it
company in itself
would be reduced
would involve the most
terrible
and lingering war that the world has ever seen and
it could
only be effected by a loss, most unlikely to
;
occur, and
more
serious in
race than that of India
itself,
fibre of the British people.
practical considerations
with
all
enjoys,
its effects
it
upon the human
namely, the loss of the
To
those
may be
who solicit more
pointed out that,

which she now
the advantages of transport
Russia would
still
be confronted with the
a difficulty great enough, as I

have shown, even in the earlier stages of conflict in
Afghanistan, but increasing in geometrical progres-
difficulty of supplies,
sion with every mile that she advanced
or Herat
beyond Balkh
and that the recent extension and fortifica-
tion of the British frontier in Pishin

will
and Beluchistan
supply her withsufficient preliminary nuts to crack
321
before she ever dips her hand into the rich garner
of Hindostan.
On the day that a Russian army
from Balkh for the passes of the Hindu

Kush, or marches out of the southern gate of Herat
en route for Kandahar, with reason may the British
starts forth
commander repeat
the
triumphant exclamation of
Cromwell (according to Bishop Burnet) at Dunbar,

Now hath the Lord delivered them into my hand
'
But though neither Russian statesmen nor Russian Rusan

attack
generals are foolish enough to dream of the conquest upon India
of India, they do most seriously contemplate the
,
invasion of India
and that with a very
definite pur-
pose which many of them are candid enough to avow.

The Parthian retreated, fighting, with his eye turned
The Russian advances, fighting, with his

mind's eye turned in the same direction.
His object
is not Calcutta, but
Constantinople not the Ganges,
backward.
but the Golden Horn.
He
the keys
of the Bosphorus are more likely to be won on the
banks of the Helmund than on the heights of Plevna.
To keep England
employed
believes that
quiet in Europe
in Asia, that, briefly put,
substance
of
Russian
policy.
by keeping her
is the sum and
Sooner
than
that
England should intervene to thwart another San

Stefano, or again protect with her guns a vanquished
Stamboul, Herat must be seized by a coup de
main, and General AnnenkofTs cars must be loaded

with armed men. I asked a distinguished Russian
diplomatist under what circumstances his Government
would
itself justified in
violating the Afghan
so
settled
a
frontier,
solemnly
year and a half ago,
feel
322
and challenging a conflict with England in the East.

His reply was very distinct.
Upon the occurrence
*
of either of two contingencies/ he said; if you tamper

with the Russian dominions north of the Oxus; or if
you
Candid
avowal
interfere with the realisation of
our national aims
It requires no Daniel to interpret the

in Europe/
last-named handwriting on the wall.
If further evidence be required of this intention,
of.
i
may be tound
i
in the frank confession of every

Eussian officer serving in Central Asia, no less than
it
the
in
authoritative
who
utterances of Skobeleff,
usually said a few years in advance what the whole

army repeated a few years afterwards. Twice in
letters he employed the famous phrase about the
In 1877 he wrote
tanning of the Asiatic hide.
An
acquaintance with the country and its resources leads

infallibly to the conclusion that our presence in Turkestan in
the name of Russian interests can only be justified by precipitating to our
and
own
benefit the solution of the Eastern Ques-
Otherwise the Asiatic hide
tion.
all
Would
our
it
efforts in
Turkestan
is
will
not worth the tanning,
have been in vain.
not be well to avail ourselves of our new and
powerful strategical position in Central Asia, and our improved acquaintance with routes and means, in order to strike
a deadly blow at our real enemy, unless, which is very
doubtful, the evidence of our resolve to strike at his most
vulnerable point should cause him altogether to give way ?
And
again, in 1881, after his return from
Tepe, he wrote
To my mind the whole Central Asian Question
Geok
is
as clear
If it does not enable us in a comparatively

as the daylight.
short time to take seriously in hand the Eastern Question,
in other words, to dominate the Bosphorus, the hide
is
not
323
worth the tanning. Sooner or later Russian statesmen will

have to recognise the fact that Russia must rule the Bosphorus; that on this depends not only her greatness as a
Power of the first magnitude, but also her defensive security,

and the corresponding development of her manufactures and
trade.
Without a serious demonstration in the direction of
India, in all probability on the side of Kandahar, a war for
It is indisthe Balkan Peninsula is not to be thought of.
pensable to maintain in (Central Asia, at the gates of the
corresponding theatre of war, a powerful body of troops, fully
equipped, and seriously mobilised.
That these ideas were not the offspring of a single

brain, nor the incidental outcome of a Central Asian
Evidence
history
pursued with other objects, and resulting

in unexpected success, may be demonstrated by his-
policy
proving that for an entire century the

possibility of striking at India through Central Asia
has been present to the minds of Russian statesmen
torical facts,
and
though such may not have been either the

original motive of advance, or the incentive to subsequent annexation, it has ever sounded the tocsin of
that,
provocation in their ears, and has both encouraged

many a hazardous venture, and palliated many a
temporary reverse.
As early as 1791 a Russian invasion of India by an
army advancing from Orenburg, vid Bokhara and
Kabul, was planned by M. de St. Genie, and carefully
considered by the Empress Catherine.
In 1800 a joint expedition against India was
designed by the Emperor Paul and Napoleon, then

First Consul of France.
A French army of 35,000
men was
to
march down
the
Danube
to the
Black
Y2
schemes
invaaion:
H.
ioo
RUSSIA IN
324
CENTRA
ASIA
Sea, to be (dripped thence to Taganrog on the Sea of

Azof, and to join a Russian force of greater strength
whence the united expedition was to

be conveyed by river to Astrakhan, and by sea to
Astrabad, where the overland march through Persia
upon
was
the Volga,
to
for
begin
Far rah, and Kandahar. 1
Herat,
from the enterprise, the Czar

Paul proposed to undertake it alone, and in a magni-
Upon Napoleon
retiring
loquent letter presented India and

the
Don
Cossacks,
armament.
His
who were
death,
all
its
wealth to
to supply the invading
after
General
Orloff,
the
hetman, had already marched at the head of a large

army 450 miles from Orenburg, saved the plan from
the disastrous fiasco that
would have followed
its
continued execution.
At
Tilsit, in 1
807, the idea was revived
by Napo-
who
suggested a joint invasion to the Emperor

Alexander, to be undertaken with the active assis-
leon,
The two Emperors, however,
tance of the Shah.
soon drifted into collision themselves,
and again the
project lapsed.
1
In his memorandum the Emperor Paul wrote in terms which
have supplied a model to every subsequent Bussian in vasion -monger
The sufferings under which the population of India groans have
inspired France and Russia with the liveliest interest and the two
governments have resolved to unite their forces in order to liberate
India from the tyrannical and barbarous yoke of the English. Ac:
'
cordingly the princes and peoples of
combined armies
will pass
all countries through which the

need have no fear; on the contrary, it
behoves them to help with all their strength and means BO beneficent
and glorious an undertaking the object of this campaign being in
every respect as just, as that of Alexander the Great was unjust, when
he wished to conquer the whole world/ This language is an almost
;
verbal anticipation of that employed by Skobeleff eighty years later.

is nothing new under the sun.
Truly there

the
325
years Eussia, prudently

her
of
the
ambition, laboured at
range
contracting
in
Persia, and utilising the
strengthening her position
During
ensuing
military resources of the latter,

relatively
which were then
v.
IBS?
less
contemptible than now, as an advanced
As early as 1832, the

attacking force against India.
Moscow Gazette/ in an access of incautious jubilation,
We shall soon have no

was found declaring that
need to make any treaty with this perfidious people
save at Calcutta.' And in 1837 Persia was encour*
aged to send that expedition against Herat,
in
which
and engineers, as well as Russian

a
money, played prominent part, but which the gallantry of a single Englishman, Eldred Pottinger, covered
Russian
officers
In the same year the

with ridicule arid disgrace.
who
Russian agent Vitkievitch,
subsequently blew out
own
brains from disappointment at the failure

of his mission, was heard of at Kabul, offering a
his
Russian alliance against England to Dost Mohammed.

For a time the project of a Russian campaign
against India languished.
War, a plan of invasion
But early in the Crimean

was submitted by General
Duhamelto the Emperor Nicholas and in 1855, when

that war was drawing to a close, a memorandum was
drawn up by General Khruleff, sketching a practicable line of advance vid Astrabad, Meshed, and
;
Herat.
European
complications prevented
attention being paid to either of these schemes.
much
For a succinct account of these two designs vide Russian Projects

against India, by H. Sutherland Edwards, chap. xii. (1885). General
Duhamel's report contained these words
When once the necessary
transports are on the Caspian and ready for use, the route from Astra*
1
'
v.
IHSS
326
The
Granviiie
ment of
apprehensions, however, excited by

rumour of these intentions, as well as by the start1
advance of Eussia into Turkestan between the
I Olif^k
yx
1860 and 1870, led to the negotiations opene

Lord Clarendon in 1869, which eventually culm
in the Gortchakoff-Granville
agreement of 187*
containing the celebrated engagement given by the

Russian Chancellor that * the Emperor looked upon
Afghanistan as completely outside the sphere within

which Eussia might be called upon to exercise her
How
influence/
by
the Eussians
engagement was respected

shown by the next occasion upon
far this
is
which the invasion of India figured among the pieces

on the chessboard of Imperial diplomacy.
When
vi.i878
khan
the Eusso-Turkish
War
broke out
in 1877,
is preferable to any other, because it is the shortest

in Astrabad, a footing in Khorasan will be easily obthe remaining distance to Kabul is only 1,250 miles. The
to Astrabad
distance.
tained,
and
Once
infantry, artillery,
and ammunition can be shipped over the Caspian
Sea, whilst the cavalry and ammunition-train will travel from Circassia
through Persia. The march through half-civilised Persia will be com-
paratively easy, that country being already so bound by treaties as to

be incapable of serious resistance, and being moreover threatened from
all sides, and BO rendered powerless.
What more then remains to be
desired ? Any active co-operation on the part of Persia involves the
same on the part of Afghanistan, on account of the deadly animosity
between the two nations and this is just the sine qua non of an attack
This once accomplished all is won for we do not
upon India.
;
invade India with a view to making conquests, but in order to overthrow

the English rule, or at least to weaken English power.'
General Khruleff also recommended an advance by Astrabad,
*
Bujnurd, Kuchan, Meshed, and Herat , adding : Having secured the
and having made ourselves safe on the side of

Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand, we could at once march a force of
80,000 men to Kandahar, sending an embassy from thence to Kabul, which
would finally dispose the natives in our favour and elevate our influence
neutrality of Persia,
above that of the English. The entrance of the long-desired corps of

80,000 men into Afghanistan will excite the national antipathy of the
Afghans to the English, and will shake the British power in India.'

it
and imposEussia, that England could keep aloof from
was thought unlikely
sible in
327
in this country
The impression prevailed in Eussia to

the struggle.
the very end of the campaign, down to the signature
of the Treaty of San Stefano, and even while the
"
Congress was sitting at Berlin, that England and

Eussia would sooner or later be embroiled. It was
with a view to such an emergency that in 1876

Skobeleff, then military Governor of Ferghana, sent
to Kaufmann, the Governor-General at Tashkent, an
elaborate plan for the Eussian invasion of India the
importance of which consists not so much in the
;
dispositions or
movements recommended,
as in the
fact that the earlier part of Skobeleff's
was actually carried
into execution
programme
though amid
the chorus of congratulation that hailed the signature of the Treaty of Berlin in England, the omens
of menace in the East were neglected, and did not
emerge in their full significance till they were found

to have entangled us in a war with Afghanistan
before the end of the year 1878.
Skobeleff's plan,
and elaborated
at
which was subsequently matured

a Council of
War
held in the
Eussian camp outside Constantinople, involved the

simultaneous employment of armed forces and private
intrigue.
The
Stolietoff mission
was commissioned
to Kabul, to negotiate a secret treaty with the
Amir
who had
already been conciliated by coml

Colonel Grodeplimentary letters from Kaufmann
Shir Ali,
The Stolietoff mission left Samarkand on June 18, 1878, the very
day of the opening of the Congress of Berlin. It reached Kabul on
1
invasion of
India
328
koff was despatched

to
sound the
upon
feelings of
his ride
from Samarkand
Afghan Turkestan
Colonel
Matsaeff was deputed witli similar instructions to
Badakshan and
Military operations were
Kafiristan.
'
be undertaken simultaneously by three columns,

with an aggregate strength of over 20,000 men, with
to
their bases respectively at
Petro-Alexandrovsk on the
July 22, 1878, nine days after the Treaty of Berlin had already been
signed, and when telegraphic news of that event was in the possession
both of Stolietoff and of Shir Ali. General Stolietoff loft Kabul at the
end of September, with a signed treaty in his pocket ; but the bulk of
the mission under Colonel Rozgonoff remained behind for some
months, urging the Amir to close the door of Kabul against those who
want to enter it from the East ; 'to be as a serpent, and to make
'
'
peace openly with England, but in secret to prepare for war.' The
In November war was
crisis came more quickly than either expected.
declared by England against Afghanistan on the 22nd Fort Ali Musjid
;
was captured by the British. On December 2 Roberts carried the Peiwar

Kotal by storm. On December 18 Shir Ali fled from Kabul with the
remainder of the Bussian mission, being still encouraged by Kaufmann
to treat the English with deceit and fraud, until the present cold
'
season passes away,
when
the Almighty Will will be
made manifest
to
the Russian Government having repeated the BisThe Bisuiillah, as

niillah, the Bismillah will come to your assistance.'
all remember, took the form of absolute refusal on the part of Russia
you
that
is to say,
unhappy victim whom she had duped

and now deserted, and of the death of Shir Ali himself in February
1879. The entire story, which we owe to the discovery of the Secret
Correspondence by the British troops at Kabul, and which is without
parallel in the annals of diplomatic intrigue, was invaluable for two
to interfere in the interests of the
it taught the Afghans the reliance to be placed upon Russian

pledges of assistance, a lesson they have never forgotten ; and it shattered the pretty theory of the British Russophiles like a house of cards.
reasons
That a power, at peace with ourselves, in the face of an old-standing

engagement that Afghanistan should remain outside the sphere of its
influence, and with the ink upon a fresh international agreement
scarcely dry, should deliberately instigate to war an ally of our own,
and throw the shield of its patronage over a course of the meanest chiSo
cane, was more than the most devoted partisan could stomach.
far as I know, the good-faith of Russia has never on either side in
English politics found an honest spokesman since. Nusquam tufa
fdes has become, by her own teaching, an axiom of common acceptance.

Oxus south of Khiva,
at
329
Samarkand, and
at
Mar-
ghilan.
The first column, under General Grotengelm, was

to march up the river to Tcharjui and to operate in
conjunction with a column from the Caspian. The
second, under General Kaufmann himself, was to
march vid Jam, on the Bokharan frontier, towards
The third, under General
Karshi and the Oxus.
Alai from Ferghana, and
the
ascend
to
was
Abramoff,
endeavour to scale the Pamir Plateau, by passes
.
leading
down
into
Chitral
serious resulted from
or Kashmir.
Military
operations
Nothing
any of these projects though

Abramoff succeeded in proving that passes of a great
altitude were nevertheless accessible to artillery;
;
while Kaufmann, having marched as far as Jam, was

obliged to march back again, having in the mean-
time stated his conviction in a letter that his army

was fit to encounter any troops in the world, and
;
though a march to India with such means was not to

be thought of, yet, if help were forthcoming on the
other side (i.e. from Afghanistan), he might do a
great deal, and above all would set simmering such
a porridge that the bulldogs would not shake theml
selves clear of it.'
The interest, however, of these proceedings,

which were 'designed in strict accordance with
SkobelefTs proposals, lay less in their abortive inception and premature collapse, than in the later steps
by which,
1
if
successful,
they were to have been
Vide C. Marvin's Russians at Merv and Herat and Russia at
the Gate of Herat.
Later
ments
330
Kaufmann, having entered into negotiaan alliance with the Amir, was to advance
followed up.
tions for
vid
Balkh and Bamian
Ali proved refractory,
to Kabul, whither, if Shir
Abdurrahman Khan was
summoned from Samarkand, and encouraged

up
civil
war
position was
to
whereas,
if all
went
to
be
to stir
well, the Eussian
be strengthened, and the native army
organised in Afghanistan
while a host of spies and
circulating throughout India, were to

arouse the disaffected elements in the rear of any
emissaries,
British force advancing from the Indus.

would find itself hemmed in between two
The
latter
fires,
and in
parlous plight. Victory was to be followed by letting

loose a tornado of wild Asiatic horsemen upon India,
and by a revival of the summary if unsentimental

methods of Tamerlane. In the event of defeat the
Eussian army was to retire upon Herat, where it
would be met and succoured by a relief column
pushed forward from the Caspian.

Such, briefly summarised, was SkobelefTs plan of
quent
campaign
for
the
invasion
of India.
When
the
leading Eussian General in Central Asia thinks it

worth while to formulate so precise a scheme, and
when, further, upon the first opportunity presented,

and in contempt of all international morality, his
Government proceeds to give it effect, it can no
longer be contended that Eussian designs against
India are the figment of a biassed imagination, or
even that an invasion is outside the region of en-
deavour.
known
Since the death of Skobeleff
it
is
well
that a revised edition of his scheme, modified
331
or extended in accordance with wider knowledge and

more modern conditions, has been elaborated by
who was one
General Kuropatkin,
right-hand
traditions
men
and
of
Skobeleff's
Central Asia, and inherited his
in
and who may be regarded
ideas,
as
the leading exponent of Central Asian tactics in the
Russian army. Did circumstances render it desirable to-morrow that pressure should be brought to
bear upon England in Afghanistan, every detail of
plan to be pursued is already drawn up and
decided upon, and the telegraph-wire could set the
the
machinery in instantaneous motion.

It would be an error, however,
to
suppose that
.
schemes for striking at India through Afghanistan

are the emanation of military brains alone, or are to
be attributed to the mingled tedium and irresponof garrison
life in the steppes.

Statecraft is
interested as generalship in the solution of the problem
and behind the more daring
sibility
at least as
much
who manufacture
opportunities or execute
the
are
cooler heads and more
frontier,
designs upon
sagacious brains in the public offices upon the Neva,
spirits
voice, particularly under the existing regime,

possesses at least an equal share in the decision.
whose
The present head of the

1
An
article, entitled
Asiatic Department of the
Constantinople, Russia, and India,* in the
Quarterly Review of January 1887, by an evidently well-informed

To those who would fain
authority, contained this striking sentence
believe that this rapid advance is the result of accidental circumstances,
we would, with rail knowledge of the subject, reply by challenging any
high official, either Liberal or Conservative, in either India or England,
to say that he had not had absolute proofs before him that the Russian
advance is the result of a well-matured design to dispute our Empire in
'
the East.'
civilian
endorse-
vitjff
332
Foreign Office at St. Petersburg (a post which may be

compared to our Secretaryship of State for India) is
M.
Zinovieff,
who was
formerly Eussian Minister at
Teheran, and is profoundly versed in the Central

Asian Question. It is interesting, therefore, to have
from
his pen, as typical of the
civilian opinion
among
most distinguished
the bureaucracy, the admis-
sion that military necessities or frontier security were
not the only motives that led Eussia across the

Caspian and that statesmen as well as soldiers see
;
Afghanistan (the country outside the legitimate

sphere of Eussian influence) a fair field for the exer-
in
cise of their abilities.
for
Foreign
In a despatch to the Minister
Affairs, sent
from Teheran in March
1881, upon the policy of retaining the Akhal-Tekke

oasis after the fall of Geok Tepe, M. Zinovieff expressed himself with much candour as follows
:
It
must not be forgotten that one of the causes which
urged us to operations eastward of the Caspian Sea was the

necessity for making an impression upon England, and checking her attempts against us in Central Asia. This was the
consideration that produced our expedition in 1878 to
Kala.
We then
the Tekkes.
Khwaja
became convinced of the policy of subduing
It is impossible to believe that in the future
the same necessity will not again arise.

Volunterily to
give up the dearly-bought successes of our present expedition would be all the more foolish since there is at present a
.
most important Central Asian Question as yet unsettled viz.

Even though Gladstone's
the future of Afghanistan.
.
is
to a policy of interference or incorpora-
opposed
Ministry
tion, the English Conservatives, in the event of their return
to power, will not find it impossible to discover sufficient
reasons for the pacification of Afghanistan, in order to realise
333
programme, which is to push the dominions

and power of England to the uttermost, and to diminish the
their political
importance of Russia in Central Asia. Our advanced post at

the north-east extremity of Khorasan, united as it is with our
base on the Caspian by good lines of communication, will
doubtless compel the English to be more circumspect in their
ambitious schemes, as all the roads to the east and south-east
are
now open
to us.
In deploying this chain of evidence, I have been

,
announcing no new discovery but, on the contrary,

have recapitulated facts for the most part familiar
;
to every student of the question
facts
which render
impossible for anyone to deny that there is an

Anglo-Russian Question of incalculable seriousness
it
resistless force of their
facts,
own
moreover, which, by the

accumulation, have made
so deep an impression upon the public mind in this

country that there is now but. one opinion as to the
lessons
which they
inculcate,
and but one voice as to

The school of politicians
the duty that they impose.

who described anxiety at Russia's advance
as
'
upon India
old women's fears,' have closed the doors of their
The policy of masterly inachundred contemptuous critics

honest champion and but a few voices,
*
discredited academy.
tivity' meets with a
for a single
feebly bleating in the wilderness,
still
proclaim the
unshaken security of the Indus Valley Frontier. No

more significant proof of the volte-face which has
been forced upon English opinion can be given, than
was under a Liberal Prime Minister, himself

the author of the memorable phrase above quoted,
that
it
Russian
nowuniversally
and vast proportions
Beaiity
of Anglo-
Grodekoff s Wcvr in TurJcomania, chap.
xvi.
admitted
334
that this country was brought nearer to war with

Russia in Central Asia than it has been at any time
since the Crimean War that it was by a Liberal Ad;
ministration that a credit of eleven millions sterling

for Imperial defence was demanded, and by a Liberal
Viceroy of India that Beluchistan was annexed, the
Amir
British
Fishin.
herself
of her
of Afghanistan subsidised,
frontier
pushed
forward
and an advanced
into
congratulate or commiserate
upon having been convicted out of the mouth
Russia
own
may
witnesses.
have been noticed that what
may be
de-
of SkobelefFs policy
scribed as the mainspring
i
r
J
was
It will
Russian
illufliona
about
British
rule in
Quetta and
the
employment of such seditious or insurgent ele-
ments as might be found open to anti-British appeals
And here, accordingly, I am brought in

contact with a cardinal misconception underlying, and
to a great extent vitiating, every Russian argument
in India.
bearing upon invasion namely, the deeply-rooted

conviction, which has been betrayed by every Russian
who has written upon the subject, and which was
expressed to
versed about
me by
it,
every Russian with
whom
that the British rule in India
I conis
one
of odious and incredible tyranny, that the majority of

the Indian people are plunged in bitter affliction, and
that the smallest spark falling in this magazine of
combustibles must produce an explosion that will

blow the British authority to atoms. It is useless to
point out to the Russian that his belief is scarcely
compatible with the fact that over 270,000,000 of
this
dangerous material* are held in tranquil sub-

jection
by a
335
force of 70,000 white soldiers, associated
with a native army of double that number or in

other words, that there is only one armed man in
India to every 1,300 of the population
whereas in
Eussian Turkestan and Transcaspia 45,000

required to control a native population of
men
less
two and a-haif millions, or at the rate of one
man
what
is
to his
than
armed
These calcu-
to every fifty of the native peoples.
lations fail to disturb
are
mind an a
priori
of reasoning, and based on.
an imperious confidence both in the popularity of
Eussia and in the hatred inspired by England.
certainty, independent
Every Eussian general of importance in Central

Kaufmann, TchernaiefF, Skobeleff, Grodekoff,
Petrusevitch has shared and has re-echoed this be-
Asia
lief.
Skobeleff wrote as follows, in the letter before
quoted, in 1877
Everyone who has concerned himself with the question

of the position of the English in India has declared it to be
precarious, and has said that it is solely maintained by force
of arms, that the European troops are not more than sufficient
to keep the country quiet, and that the native soldiers are
not to be depended upon at all. Everyone who has concerned himself with the question of the possibility of a
Russian invasion of India has declared that
it is
only neces-
sary to penetrate to a single point upon the Indian frontier,

The contact of
in order to bring about a general rising. . .
,
even an insignificant force with the frontier of India might

lead to a general insurrection throughout the country, and to
the collapse of the British Empire.
Again, in 1880, in a letter from Transcaspia to M,

Zinovieff at Teheran,
we
find
him saying
Evidence
generals
336
My
deep conviction, formed in years of almost constant
service in Central Asia, is that our influence
these countries rests on so firm a basis, that
and power in
we
are absolved
from the necessity of supporting our prestige by such extreme

diplomatic, financial, and military measures as the British
Government has been compelled

Asia has nothing in
to adopt.
common with
position in
;
that arbitrary and

morally unjustifiable state of affairs which England has kept
up in India since the beginning of the present century. The
and
its
origin
must be sought
Our
our position elsewhere
for
in
might of Russia, God be praised, brings with it in Asia

peace, equality, and freedom of person and property it is
;
based not on privileged classes, but on the struggling multitude.
More emphatic
still
is
the
opinion expressed by
General Soboleff in an article upon Eussian and
British rule in Central Asia, published in
1885
England lays a heavy hand on her dependent peoples.

She reduces them to a state of slavery only that English
trade
may
profit
and Englishmen grow
rich.
The death of
millions in India from starvation has been caused indirectly

by English despotism. Thousands of Indian natives only
await Russia's crusade of deliverance.
If the English
would
only throw aside their misplaced pride, and study a little

more deeply the foundations of Russian rule in Central Asia,
comparing it with their own, they would soon see quite
plainly
why
the
name
of Russia enjoys such prestige in Asia,
and why the natives of India hate the dominion of England,

and set their hopes of emancipation upon Russia. Russia
allows full liberty to native customs, and not only does not
overburden her subjects with new taxes, but even concedes
them exemptions and privileges of a most extensive character.
England, on the contrary,
is
a vampire sucking the last drop
of blood out of India.
General Annenkoff, in his pamphlet introducing the
337
Transcaspian Railway, not only reckoned upon the

hatred of England in India as an undisputed factor
in the situation, but
pursued the analysis of
its
raison
than most of his compeers indulging

in a series of statements, which, while they do credit
d'etre further
powers of advocacy, entirely demolish his

claims to accuracy, and seriously jeopardise his reputo
his
He represented the Indian ryot as

the
whole
of his slender substance swallowed
finding
up in taxation, and as worse off under the English
tation for sense.
than he was under previous rulers.
He blamed
the
English for allowing the magnificent public works of

He revived the
their predecessors to fall into ruin.
cock-and-bull story about ten millions perishing of
He descanted upon
starvation in Bengal in 1870.
the systematic annihilation of native manufactures
and industries by the unconditional monopoly of
English capitalists.
He condemned
the evil effects of
Christian missions, and the introduction of the English
He might indeed have graduated
legal system.
in a
certain school of English politicians, for he described
the Indian Civil Service as
a means for enriching
When we find this

the younger sons of the nobility.'
astonishing farrago of nonsense solemnly enunciated
by a Russian
general,
upon
inspiration
and a man claiming a peculiar
this particular
subject,
it
is
not
surprising that similar views are widely distributed

among the Russian people, and are absorbed by them
with credulous avidity. 1

1
Compare
also
by Burnaby
in
the observations of the Russian writer, Captain

the East, quoted
work entitled Russia and England in

the preface of his Ride to Khiva.
Terentieff, in his
RVS8IA IN CENTRAL ASIA
338
A firm belief in the destiny of Eussia as the heaven-
Heal
feeling in
India
sent emancipator of distressed nationalities, and ot

peoples groaning under British misrule, is a factor in
the situation which
it
is difficult
to say
whether an
Englishman should regard with greater serenity or

in precise proregret. On the one hand, he feels that
the
portion to the magnitude of the illusion will be
I repeat
recoil that must ensue upon its collapse.
what
is
who have spent a lifebest, when I say that
the testimony of those
time in India and
know
it
plausibly or even fairly be

brought against British administration in that country,
whatever the discontent that may be lurking among
whatever charges
may
native peoples, and however great the hopes that are

habitually associated with change, there is no desire,
and there would be no conspiracy for such a change

as would substitute the mastery of Eussia for that of
Great Britain, and replace a dominion which, for all
its austerity or its pride, has uniformly been characterised
by public
spirit,
integrity,
and
justice,
by one that has never, either in Europe or Asia,

purged itself of the canker of corruption, coarseness,
and
self-seeking.
Quite
recently
read
in
the
leading organ of the native party in India, and

the strongest advocate of the Congress movement,
the significant admission, 'The princes and people
of India look with positive dread upon Eussian
rule.'
Regret-
Bussian
On the other
hand, the almost universal prevalence

of the belief I have described in the Eussian mind is
oranoe
inasmuch as
it
buoys up that people
339
with unreasonable hopes, and tempts them to aggresShut up within the narrow walls
sive undertakings.
of this optimistic creed, the Eussian intellect is unable
to look abroad, and correct its judgment by a wider
The
survey.
that most Eussians hear about
little
England or English rule in India is filtered through

the columns of a singularly unscrupulous press.
There
the
is,
for instance, a powerful
'
newspaper, called
which not uncom-
Kavkas,' published at Tiflis,

monly devotes more of its space to the discussion of
Indian than
it
does to that of Caucasian
politics.
The
speeches delivered at the National Congress are faith-
and publicity
given to details tendAt the

ing to prove Indian discontent or hostility.
same time the voluntary contributions of native
fully reported
is
princes for frontier defence, and similar evidences of

native loyalty, are carefully expunged.
It is not surprising that under these circumstances error is wide-
No people in
spread, and false inference universal.
Europe travel less than the Eussians outside their
own
country, or
make fewer
selves with foreign affairs.
efforts to
acquaint them-
I question
if,
apart from
whose interest lies in magnifying

than in exposing the illusion, there are a
couple of Eussian visitors to India in each year. And
yet I cannot imagine a surer guarantee for the con-
political emissaries,
rather
tinuance of peace and the discomfiture of Chauvinism

than that railway passes should be provided by the
Indian Government gratis to parties of Eussian traAfter their

vellers from Tuticorin to Peshawur.
return
home
there
would be much
less chatter
about
340
Indian invasion to the north of the Hindu Kush. 1
It
be regretted that even when an intelligent

foreigner with strong .Russian proclivities, such as
to
is
the
Frenchman, M. Boiivalot, whose recent work
That this is no idle conjecture may be illustrated by the case

though, so fur as I know, it stands alone of Doctor Pashino, a Russian,
who, after seventeen years' service in the Asiatic section of the Foreign
1
and having subsequently acted as interpreter of

Oriental languages to General Itomanovski in Turkestan, paid a series
of visits to India (it was said at the instance of the
Alexander
Office at St. Petersburg,
Emperor
presumably as a secret agent of the Ilussian Government, seeing

that he adopted various disguises, and consorted with the
Iluesophile,
or anti-British, elements wherever he went. Nevertheless, in a book
published after his return, ho wrote as follows of British rule in India
1 had never been able to understand how it was that the
English, in
spite of the interminable sermons of their missionaries, showed such a
complete toleration towards the religion of their Indian subjects. In
my double capacity of Kussian and resident at Tashkent, I had explained
II.)
'
this fact to
myself by the insufficiency of British troops in India, and

by the material weakness of the British nation. But note what wonders
fire
accomplished by these English, who, in our opinion, have so few
soldiers in India.
Everywhere they open schools, colleges, hospitals.
At this moment (1875) they are busily engaged in founding a university
at Lahore. They give the power and right to every native, who has
passed an examination, to enter the public service. They supply the
natives of India with the means of becoming doctors,
lawyers, advocates, and popularly elected representatives.
To us Hussions it seems
absolutely incredible that in the entire personnel of the Punjab
Treasury there are only five English employes, all the rest being natives.
In time something of the same kind may be seen in Russian Turkestan.
Some day it may no longer be necessary to make such a display of
force to the inhabitants as to-day.
But until that happy time arrives,
the Ilussian troops must always be numerous and
everywhere en
Evidence. In India, on the contrary, everything is different. There is

no military Governor-General and even the Viceroy, who resides at
Calcutta, is not there to make war, but to watch over the well-being
and prosperity of the people. The English ore so attentive in
;
everything affecting the natives, that every one of their civil servants is
obliged to pass an examination in the languages and religions of the
country ; so much so that the natives have no need to learn English.
At present the Hindus ore enchanted with the English administration,
and take pleasure in sending their children to English schools. Taxes

are in general heavy in India, but they are not so ruinous for the
people
as they seem.
1

I
in
have more
than
once
quoted,
has
341
travelled
India and enjoyed exceptional opportunities of
observing
its
government, he can say nothing
to
upon the subject. Gratitude

Lord Dufferin, whose timely interference rescued
him from death in Chitral, compels him to give his
enlighten his patrons
to
work an English dedication
but
fidelity to
Russia
any admission that might be wounding to her

He even makes the discovery that
national pride.
British rule in India shows what can be done by
forbids
'
traders and men of business, who know what they

want and go straight to their purpose. Nevertheless
their power is, whatever they may say, more or less
artificial they are making their way up stream, which
tires the boldest swimmer, whereas the others (i.e. the
Eussians) are following the current, which is far easier/
Turning, however, from former designs or present
;
misconceptions
relating
sides,
Eussian
movement
briefly describe the status quo

Eussian and English, and indicate the
against India, let
on both
to
me
advantages or disadvantages experienced by either.

Should Eussia, at this moment, feel called upon to
assume the offensive against England in Central Asia,

there can be no doubt that her advance would, as I
have indicated in the previous chapter, be made in
the main from three directions
:
1.
From
Pamir upon
2.
the upper sources of the

Chitral or Kashmir.
Oxus or
From Tashkent and Samarkand upon
the Oxus,
Balkh, and Kabul.

3.
From Merv and Askabad upon

1
Through the Heart of Asia.
Herat.
vols.
the
1889.
Russian
342
i.
The advanced
Prom
the Pamir
military stations of Russia in the
province of Ferghana are Marghilan and Osh, which

are immediately north of the great Alai Range. From
base a column with mountain batteries would
this
cross the Taldik Pass (11,000
(14,000
it
ft.)
to
ft.)
and the
Kizil
Art
whence
ft.),
Aksu towards Tash-
Lake Kara Kul (12,800
would proceed
S.E.
up
the
kurgan, descending from thence by one of several
probably the Barogil (12,000 ft.), either upon

Yasin and Gilgit, or upon Chitral and Kafiristan.
From the former base a menacing movement might
passes,
be made upon Kashmir from the latter upon Jellalabad or Peshawur.

Though the regions to be
;
traversed are enormously lofty, and impassable for

troops during any but the months of June to Sept-ember, a
column might execute a diversion
in this
quarter, which, without being positively serious in

It would
itself, would require to be seriously met.
encounter no military opposition till it had reached

Chitral or Kashmir.
Sir Charles MacGregor contemplated an alternative line of Russian advance in this
quarter from the Bokharan state of Kolab, across the
Oxus
into Badakshan,
and so across the Hindu Kush
Opposition might, however, be encountered in this direction from the Afghans, wr ho hold
into Chitral.
Badakshan
in
force,
and who are
hostile
to
all
strangers.
a.
prom
Upon
the second line of advance, Russia would
with advantages which she has never hitherto

enjoyed; for as far as the northern bank of the
start
Oxus she would have behind her the
entire military
343
and material resources of Bokhara. The evidence

which I have amassed in previous chapters will
show that in Bokhara she would find a submissive
and a not altogether unserviceable ally. No possible
obstacle, but the collection of supplies and transcould delajr her in her march to the river,
from which she might descend with irresistible
port,
upon Balkh (I use the name Balkli as the

popular and most widely known appellation, though
the ancient city is a heap of ruins, and the modern
strength
Afghan Turkestan is called Mazar-i-Sherif),

or upon Tashkurgan (also a modern town near the
ancient and ruined Khulm).
Concentrating and
capital of
consolidating her forces in this rich plain, she could

either remain there at her leisure, or push forward
Bamian and the passes of the Hindu Kush, leading direct upon Kabul. These passes could be held
against her if a force competent to hold them
were forthcoming, a condition which would depend
upon the joint politics of Kabul and Calcutta. As
to
however, as Afghan Turkestan is concerned, the

Eussian progress would probably be a ' walk over
far,
'
more, if, as is constantly averred, the inhabitants

of that country are secretly disposed towards her
still
This line of advance might be rendered the

more formidable by the co-operation of a column
rule.
advancing up the river by steamboat or by
rail
from
Tcharjui.
Between the second and the third or main line of

i.e. between the Oxus at Bosaga
ajid the Russo -Afghan frontier on the Heri Eud at
Eussian advance
New
JEtusso-
Afghan
frontier
344
Zulfikar
of country 350 miles in length,

along which was traced in irregular lines the new
lies
st retch
A boundary so arbitrary and

and nowhere assisted by physical or
frontier of 1885-87.
unscientific,
geographical aids to demarcation a line, as it has

a peace
justly been called, of length without strength
frontier established honoris causd, but not a war
;
frontier to
be fought
any or every point.

section of the frontier,
at
for or
about
can be violated
The base of attack upon
this
were such a step contemplated

would
by Russia,
naturally be Merv, with its chain of
advanced posts up the valley of the Murghab as far as
Penjdeh. Resistance would depend upon the quality
of the Afghan garrisons of Andkui, Maimena, and
Bala Murghab, which are probably not to be relied
Upon
Herat
upon at all.
Of the advance upon
Herat
*
from Merv, or
from Sarakhs, or even through Khorasan, I have
I have
spoken at length in preceding chapters.
either
shown
that the extreme southern point of the Russian

frontier is less than 80 miles
by road from Herat,
Merv is only 270 miles from Herat, Dushak

the same distance, and Meshed 60 miles less
I have
shown that the Transcaspian Railway could transport
that
by any or all of these routes the resources of the

Caucasus and European Russia and that with these
;
great
facilities
to
recommend
it,
Russia
is
justified
in looking to this line of
advance with confidence
as a certain guarantee at
any rate of preliminary
success.
Such
is
the military position of Russia

along her
345
present Afghan border from Russia to the Pamir.

Taking a leap for the moment over Afghanistan, let
us contrast the English frontier, 500 miles distant at

The British
the nearest point, upon the other side.
for along
not actually coterminous with Afghanistan proper, i.e. with the subjects
of the Amir, but is separated from it by a mountain-
frontier in the direction facing Afghanistan
nearly one-half of
extent
its
it is
ous border-land, peopled by more or less independent

tribes
may roughly be divided into three sections.
1
The western borders of Kashmir and the upper
Indus valley, bordering upon independent, or allied,
or subsidised tribes
a section which, though it
might have to be defended on the north against
.
attacks such as that to which I have alluded from the
Pamir, is not directly opposed to any Russian or proRussian enemy.
The mountainous region beginning with Attock

and Peshawur, and including the embouchure of a
series of passes from Afghanistan, the most important of which are the Khyber, Kurum valley, Tochi,
A network of railways
and Gomul or Gwalari.
and military roads brings every point along this
2.
frontier into easy
communication with India proper,
while powerful fortifications at Attock,
Rawul
Pindi,
and elsewhere, have been designed to resist possible

1
invasion.
Within a week of the declaration of war,
The northern terminus of the railway is at present at Peshawur ;
but surveys have already been completed for an extension to Jumrood,
For a more exhaustive description of the
at the mouth of the Khyber.
Indian frontier, and its road and railway communications, vide an
article by the writer, entitled The Scientific Frontier an Accomplished
Fact,' in the Nineteenth Century for June 1889
1
'
Indian
346
large bodies of troops would be hastening along this

The passes that have been named
line to the front.
supply the natural line of advance upon Kabul or

Ghuzni, either of which places could be reinforced,
occupied, or seized long before a Russian
within striking distance.
3.
An advanced boundary pushed
wise from the

pacified,
fluence,
Gomul
army was
forward wedge-
Pass, not as
yet thoroughly
but about to be brought under British into the Khwaja Amran mountains on the
western confines of Pishin, where
touches Afghanistan proper on the south, at a distance of only sixty

This section is connected with
miles from Kandahar.
the Indus valley in
its
it
more northerly portion by
excellent military roads, the principal being that from

])era Ghazi
Khan through Thai
distance of less than 300 miles
Chotiali to Quetta, a
;
and
in its southerly
by the Sind-Pishin Eailway, which crosses the

Indus by the magnificent newly-completed cantilever
portion
bridge at Sukkur, bifurcates at Sibi into a double

railway, approaching Quetta on the one side by the
Ilurnai,
on the other by the "Bolan Pass, and
is
con-
tinued from Quetta over the Pishin valley to the

frontier post of Cliaman on the plains at the northern
Amran range, a
moment in course
foot of the
at this
tunnel through which is

of construction.
Quetta
occupies an almost impregnable position, and

been defended by an array of lines and advanced
itself
lias
military forts,
all
which render invasion from
but impossible.
An
level plain alone saves
this quarter
interval of sixty miles
Kandahar from being a
of
British
347
would not stand more than a few days

in the way of its becoming so were such a step
This
found necessary on the outbreak of hostilities.
possession, but
communication by
with the seaport of Kurrachi distant twentydays from England from which the Pishin fron-
line of British
rail
five
advance
is
in direct
can be reached upon the third day.

It will be noticed that there is a significant parity
both in the direction and objective of the rival railtier
Diagram of
tw
tli
railway
systems
way
systems that confront each other at the distance
of a few hundred miles, and have been devised to

transport the forces of both Powers to the points most
At
suitable for advunce or most exposed to attack.
a distance of 750 miles apart, as the crow flies, the

Dushak-Samarkand line of Eussia, on the northwest, runs almost exactly parallel with the
Sukkur
on the south-east, both lines

covering the respective frontiers which they have
been designed to serve. In both cases double adLahore
line of India
diverging from the main base at right

angles, strike out, or are intended to strike out, to the
frontier itself: on the Indian side the Sukkur-Ohaman
vanced
lines,
branch (Sind-Pishin Railway)
is
pushed out from
Sukkur in a north-westerly direction, its objective being

the Rawul Pindi-Peshawur line is pushed
from
out
Lahore, further to the east, its objective
being Kabul. On the Russian side the corresponding
extensions are not yet completed, but, as has been
Kandahar
shown, are already designed. When finished, the MervHerat line will strike out south-east from the main line,
its
objective being Herat,
and
will
run
in
an almost
TtUSMA IN CENTRAL ASIA
348
straight line with the Indian rail to
Tcharjui-Bosaga line
will
Kandahar
the
be pushed forward at a
similar angle further to the east, its objective
being
Balkh, and the direction again being nearly identical

from the opposite quarter with that of the Indian
Pesliawur
line.
The
and position of the two

illustrated, in the form of a
attitude
Powers may be aptly
diagram, by these respective railway
lines, represent-
ing, as they do, either country as standing firmly

its
own ground, and
front, in the
on
stretching out defiant arms in
one case to capture or to
strike, in the
The diagram is also

useful, as indicating the lines upon which warlike
operations must infallibly commence.
A comparison of the two frontiers, British and
other to resist or to defend.
Eussian, will show, therefore, that for a zone extend-
ing to from 100 to 200 miles in front of their respective

border-lines, either Power occupies on its own side a
If it be a moveposition of preponderant strength.
ment upon Kabul, Ghuzni, or Kandahar that is planned,
Great Britain has no

If the objective
difficulty in forestalling Eussia.
be Balkh or Herat, the advantage

with the Eussians.
Unfortu-
rests as indisputably
nately for the English, it is the latter and not the

former position that will constitute the determining
feature at any rate in the earlier stages of the conflict.
Herein lies the inequality between the rival
situations.
Great Britain makes no practical gain by
an advance upon Kabul, Ghuzni, or Kandahar, places

which she has often previously captured, held, and
voluntarily abandoned, and to which she will only
340
again advance, not for purposes of offence or annexation, but under the compulsion of Russian aggression
from the north.
Russia, however, makes a very
and tangible gain by the seizure either of

lialkh or Herat, inasmuch as they are positions of
positive
importance, captured from the enemy, and

carrying with them the control of large tracts of
country of great potential fertility and strategical confirst-rate
The advantage to Russia will be all the

movement upon either place
sequence.
greater
if
she so times her
as to effect the occupation just before winter begins.
No
military operations can be undertaken, in order to

dislodge her, till the ensuing spring and though in
the meantime the dogs of war might have been baying
;
over two continents and in
snow and
Afghanistan, and the
many
ice are not confined in winter to
lands, yet
bark of the English would so far have been worse

than their bite while on her side Russia would have
;
had
six clear
months within which
to fortify either or
both strongholds (Herat has powerful fortifications

already, constructed under the superintendence of
British
engineer
officers),
and would resume the
Asian campaign in secure possession of both disputed

War or peace, victory or defeat, might ensue
points.
;
but she would undoubtedly have scored what
may be
described as two by tricks, whatever might be said of

honours, in the opening hand.
Without entering
a civilian
is
into details of strategy,
ill-qualified to handle,
pausing for one
moment
it
to consider
is
which
worth while
what ought
to
be the response that England should make to such
England's
to Afghanistan
350
a move, involving these

part of our antagonists.
politicians, of
whom
advantages, on the
There exists a school of
initial
Sir Charles Dilke
is
the accom-
plished spokesman, who are inclined to emphasise to

the uttermost the pledges that have at different times
been made by the British or Indian Government to the

of Afghanistan, and who argue that any reluctance to rise to the full scope of the responsibilities
Amir
thus assumed, will involve both a serious breach of

faith
and a disastrous
loss of influence.
Sir Charles
Dilke, in the following passage, criticises a paragraph

'
in an article by myself that appeared in the Nineteenth
'
Century
in
February 1889
There is, to my mind, no conceivable doubt that we are

bound by every consideration of honour to the present Amir.
If by any chance he were to be attacked by Russia, he would
expect our assistance, and, in my opinion, has a right to
count upon it. Mr. George Curzon has taken exception, in
a recent
words
'
We
are solemnly pledged to

defend against Russia the integrity of Afghanistan.'
pledge/ he says, was given to the present Amir ... to aid
him in resisting unprovoked aggression on his dominions
but the very important qualification was appended, " to such
extent and in such manner as may appear to the British
article, to
my
'
'
Mr. Curzon seems to think that

Government necessary."
exists
no engagement
morally compelling us to resist the
infringement of the Afghan new north-west frontier. Now
the pledges of which I spoke are contained in statements
which have been made to the Amir on several occasions.

Mr. Curzon quotes one of 1880. I believe that the words
used in another, in 1883 or 1884, were to the effect that so
long as the Amir conformed to our advice he would be
assisted in repelling
unprovoked aggression, and that her

to permit interference
Majesty's Government did not intend
351
by any foreign Power with the internal or external affairs of

Afghanistan. The Amir has undoubtedly conformed to our
advice, and under this pledge we are, in my opinion, bound
Again, when the Amir came to India in 1885, it
understood that Lord DufFerin told him that a Russian
to him.
is
advance upon his frontier would be met by England by war

all
over the world.
It
was immediately
after this that the
Amir said publicly in Durbar, in Lord Duflferin's

The British Government has declared that it will
*
presence,
assist
me
in repelling any foreign enemy

and the Viceroy appeared
to accept this as an accurate statement of fact. 1
;
Now
do not suppose that any Englishman
is
desirous either of withdrawing from the pledged word

of England, or of committing an act of desertion that
would bring upon us the merited hostility of the

Afghans. I do not say that the unprovoked violanorth-west Afghan frontier by Kussia
can be tacitly accepted, or that England is to submit
tion of the
without a
murmur
international
to
so
gross
an outrage upon
Eussian statesmen understand
faith.
perfectly well that such an act involves a legitimate

casus belli, and they will probably only have deliberate recourse to
it
when they wish
to
provoke war
with Great Britain, or after hostilities have already

broken out. English statesmen understand the act
same sense, and are not likely to repudiate any

But the
obligation which it may impose upon them.
point upon which I insisted before, and which I repeat
in the
now,
is,
that there
is
nothing in any engagement to
Abdurrahman Khan, public or
private, compelling
insane and preposterous task, at the beck even of an allied and
British troops
to
undertake the
Fortnightly Review, April, 1889.
Their
rpr
t?on
*"
352
advancing many hundreds of miles'

from their base into a country from which, in the event
loyal Amir, of
of disaster, retreat would be impossible, of forcibly

turning Russia out of the positions which by craft or
by
force she might have acquired,
and of
re-establish-
ing the purely arbitrary frontier-line fixed in 1885-7.

This is the point which must be met, unpalatable
though it may be, and to which the advocates of a
too scrupulous interpretation of promises either have
no answer at
foolhardy
all,
random and
when they recommend a
Herat and the Oxus, and
or return an answer so
as, for instance,
British advance in force to
the expulsion of Russia from the Khanates

as to
than argument.
excite ridicule rather
At any
moment
the situation may present itself that Russia,

or
without
with
provocation, may decide to infringe
the Afghan boundary, and to occupy either Balkh or
Herat.
What
England do in reply ? To that

may reasonably be called upon to give
shall
question critics
a practical answer.
declare
may
war
or,
England may, she perhaps
will,
without actually declaring war, she
Afghans by the loan of British officers

of money and arms, in an attitude of
assist the
and the
gift
active resistance.
It is generally
conceded that at
such a juncture a British force should at once reoccupy Kandahar and should be prepared to occupy
;
Ghuzni and Kabul, or
positions
commanding the
approaches thereto, in co-operation with and support

of the Afghans, so as to anticipate a Russian attack
from the north.
But, whatever
maybe
the immediate
action that statesmen or generals decide to take,
it is

essential that
353
England should retain absolute freedom

employment of means, and that
of choice as to the
rash counsellors should not, by magnifying obligations

or by minimising obstacles, draw her into a policy
vagrancy over regions which, if reconquered, she would not be prepared to garrison,
and where the utmost that she could effect would be
of
militant
to
re-establish
the
status quo, only to
be violated
again in the future, at the unfettered discretion or

selfish caprice of our opponents.
The argument that any infraction of the newlyestablished
Afghan
frontier must,
as
a matter of
honour, be followed by a British declaration of war,

subject to no qualifications, has indeed only to be
stated in
to
it
its
most
likely
mode of application,
in order
be condemned.
imply
For, thus translated, what does

It means that any temporary, or incidental,
or marauding, or even unauthorised, violation of the

line between the boundary pillars by a sotnia of
Cossacks, or a squad of Turkoman militia, under the
of some Alikhanoff or Targanoff, is to
plunge a world in arms. Such a movement might
command
take place any day, and has already more than once
taken place, in response to an irruption from the
Afghan
side,
which can
either be
tentional Russian insolence, or
by the
provoked by
more covertly
circulation of the paper rouble.
in-
effected
To contend
that such an incident
must of necessity constitute a

casus belli between the two Powers, is gratuitously to
place in the hands of Eussia an advantage of over-
whelming importance, nothing
less in fact
than the
AA
354
England into a war whenever she

the moment most convenient for herself
liberty to force
pleases,
and
at
or least agreeable to us.
Supposing, for example, that
General Boulanger came into power in France, and,

very widely anticipated, sought to increase his
popularity with his countrymen by giving us trouble,
as
is
perhaps even by going to war with England, in or

about Egypt and supposing that at such a moment
;
a telegram arrived
from Calcutta that a Eussian
detachment had committed an act of
'
unprovoked
and
was
encamped
aggression upon Afghan territory
on the near side of the pillars what would be our
'
one war already on hand in Europe,

we were forced against our better judgment and by
position, if with
a false obligation to
embark upon a roving expedition
have assumed no unlikely

contingency but even if this be scouted as improbable,
it will be in the power of every one of my readers to
into the heart of Asia
imagine a probable case, in which England would

equally be the sufferer.
,
of Afghan-
To
the
honour one
hyper- sensitive
is
custodians
of
British
tempted further to address the ques-
whether pledges and microscopic fidelity in their

fulfilment are to be an obligation imposed upon one
tion,
party alone, and that the party which has nothing to

gain and not the most to lose by the conflict ? Are
we
to
be bound to the chariot-wheels of the Amir,
while the latter does nothing for us in return ? All

offensive or defensive alliances impose duties and
even risks upon those who make them; but these

duties and risks are mutual, and should not be heaped

upon
356
the shoulders of one of the two contracting
There is no reciprocity in an engagement by which Abdurrahman is to have a lien upon
parties alone.
the support of British troops in outlying portions of

his dominions, whenever these happen to be invaded,
but under which British
hard cash
even
not otherwise suffered to set
British civilians, are

foot in the country
soldiers, British officers,
for
whose
alliance they
pay
in
an engagement which does not even admit
the presence of a British Eesident at the court whose

policy we affect to control, or of British agents at
the frontier-posts
for
which we are expected sub-
missively to acquiesce in the
summons
to fight.
To
quote a familiar phrase, the engagement thus interpreted is one in which England is to receive all the
far more rekicks and none of the halfpence.

munerative task than splitting hairs as to the verbal
significance of British obligations to Afghanistan

would be the attempt to ascertain what are Afghan
obligations to Great Britain.
For
years -Afghanistan has inspired the

British people with a feeling of almost superstitious
So gloomy a Nemesis has attended
apprehension.
fifty
proceedings in that country, our military

annals are stained by so many Afghan memories of
British
horror, that
it
is
only with the greatest reluctance
that Englishmen can be persuaded to have

anything
do with so fateful a region. And yet there is nothing inherent either in the country or in its people,
to
though the former
is
rugged and mountainous, and
the latter are turbulent and treacherous, that should
AA2
Britiah re-
with
356
daunt English hearts or defy English arms. Other and

less accessible countries, other and more difficult
peoples, have been successfully assimilated or subdued.
owe our record of Afghan failure and
We
mingled indeed with some brilliant feats

and redeemed by a few noble names, to the amazing
political incompetence that has with fine continuity
disaster,
been brought to bear upon our relations with successive Afghan rulers.
For fifty years there has not
been an Afghan Amir whom we have not alternately
now repudiating and

his sovereignty, now appealing to
their saviours, now slaughtering
fought against and caressed,
now
recognising
his
subjects as
them as our foes.
was so with Dost Mohammed,

with Shir Ali, with Yakub, and it has been so
with Abdurrahman Khan. Each one of these men
It
known
the British both as enemies and as patrons,

and has commonly only won the patronage by the
has
demonstration of his power to command it. Small

wonder that we have never been trusted by Afghan
In the
rulers, or liked by the Afghan people!
history of most conquering races is found some spot
that has invariably exposed their weakness like the
armour of
Afghanistan has long been

Imthe Achilles' heel of Great Britain in the East.
joints in
steel.
pregnable elsewhere, she has shown herself uniformly

vulnerable here.
Without recapitulating ancient
history,
it
may
be stated that our relations with Afghanistan

in the forty years between 1838 and 1878 were sucbriefly
cessively those of blundering interference
and of un-
357
masterly (I have always supposed it to be a lapsiis

The first
calami to write 'masterly') inactivity.
period, which is perhaps the darkest page in English
culminated
history,
Mohammed,
with the
recognition
whom we had
forcibly de-
who ended by
forcing his
the sovereign
posed and defeated, but
upon
us.
restoration of Dost
The policy of the second
period found some slight justification during his lifetime for an abler ruler never controlled a tribal
federation but was foolishly prolonged after his
death into a very different era, when rival chieftains
were contending for a supremacy, which we did no-
thing whatever to decide, and
when
finally Shir Ali,
combatant, already estranged from

England by a course of neglect, was known to be
the
successful
lending an ear to honeyed words from Eussia. Then

the policy of unmasterly inactivity broke down with
The second Afghan war ensued
a crash.
the
now
and
familiar display of mingled valour
after
and
in-
which might have been directly modelled

the pattern of 1841, England, having enthroned
capacity,
upon
a
new Amir, found
question,
what was
to
herself
confronted with the
be the character of the new
Lord Beaconsfield, it is known, favoured

regime.
the adoption of an advanced or scientific Indian
frontier,
committing the border passes to British

and, despairing of another Dost Mohammed,
custody
leaned towards a partition of Afghanistan among
separate chieftains while he is even said (though
;
such
shortsightedness
is
scarcely
conceivable) to
have meditated the surrender of Herat to Persia*
358
Mr. Gladstone, coming into power
in 1880, before the
close of the war, declined to endorse so forward a
policy,
and an
alternative suggestion
was required.
No
one 'had a word to say for the old unmasterly inactivity, which was buried without a sigh, and over
whose gravestone,
Worcester
as
cloisters,
above the nameless
friar
in
might be written the epitaph
The new theory of a Buffer Afghanistan,

independent though subsidised, and friendly though
The British retired Kandahar
strong, was evolved.
and Abdurrahman was left to
was surrendered
4
Miserrimus.'
own fortune. Accident has produced

very man for the purpose, the sole type of
carve out his

in 'him the
character that could give stability to so precarious a

structure, and endow a stuffed figure with the sem-
blance of
Character
ox
Abdur-
life.
Cruel, vindictive, overweeningly proud,

.
but of
.
purpose, fearless heart, and indomitable

energy, he has spent a reign of nine years in incessant fighting, has broken down and drenched in blood
inflexible
every revolt of his mutinous subjects, has extended

his dominions over all and more than the lands ruled
by Dost Mohammed, and has even established
his
in the difficult regions of the
upper Oxus, in
Badakshan, Wakhan, Shignan, and Eoshan. He Las
never been friendly to Eussia since his return from
power
Samarkand
in
1880
and,
though
suspicious
of
English interference, and loth to see foreigners in his

country, has given the British Government no reason
The actual dependence of

upon England and his increasing
to question his loyalty.
Abdurrahman

willingness to admit
cantly
illustrated
it
to his subjects,
during
the
35if
were
signifi-
Ghilzai rebellion in
August 1887, when a royal proclamation was posted

in the Bazaar at Kandahar, to the effect that the
British were holding in reserve six infantry divisions
(of nine regiments each), as well as cavalry and artilready to inarch into Afghanistan to assist the
Amir against his enemies. There was of course not a
lery,
grain of truth in the assertion.
So long as Abdurrahman
lives,
.
a Buffer Afghan-
11*
may continue to figure in the list of independent states.

His health is, however, extremely
istan
whilst at any time a ruler thus feared,

parts detested, is exposed to the danger,
precarious
and
in
which he recently so providentially escaped, of assassination.

His two sons are not of royal blood,
and would therefore not appeal to the loyalty of the
nor has either of them shown any
capacity to succeed his father.
Upon the death of
the latter it is to be feared that a time of trouble will
Afghan
tribes
again recur, more critical than any of its predecessors,

inasmuch as Eussia notoriously looks to such an
emergency as providing
advance.
an excuse
for
her next
Eival candidates for the throne will at
once be forthcoming
Is-hak
Khan from Samarkand,
possibly Ayub Khan from India, and very likely some

other claimant in the country or from the Afghan
army
it
and
will not
be Kussia's fault
chestnuts out of the
There
is
war thus engendered,

if she does not pull some
in the state of civil
very
fire.
little
concealment as to the nature
His health
ftn ^ the
future
360
of Afghan-
of Russian projects in Afghanistan. Pilot balloons

are constantly flown in the Russian press to test the
Years ago Skobeleff
currents of public feeling.
wrote, 'It
ray conviction that
is
England and
if
Eussia should have to knock up against each other

and a coterin Central Asia, the nearer the better ;
'
minous
frontier, involving direct
contact,
and multi-
plying and magnifying to an incalculable extent the

capacity to strike, is the present object of her ambi-
This coterminous frontier
tion.
supplied, in the
lofty range of the
is
Russian argument, by the long and

Hindu Kush, the Great Divide of Central Asia, with
western prolongations, the Koh-i~baba, and the

Siah Koh, extending to the Persian border south of
its
In the territory south of the Hindu Kush

Russia professes no immediate concern.
Russian
Herat.
annexation up to the point named would

absolute Russification of
all
Badakshan westwards
the
the
mean
the
Oxus Khanates from
Russian possession of
Kunduz, Kliulm, Balkh, Shibergan, Siripul, Andkui,

and Maimena and further west, of the entire Heri
;
Rud
basin, as well as of the fortress of Herat.
have pointed out elsewhere that such a consummation, so far from being retarded by physical obstacles,
is
by geographical and even ethnographical
facilitated
considerations;
whilst
in
an
earlier
part of
this
chapter I have indicated the strategical advantages

enjoyed by Russia in this quarter. But on the other
hand Englishmen should know what the realisation

of such a project would mean to this country and to
1
Nineteenth Century, February 1889.
361
It would involve the absolute exthe Indian Empire.

tinction of a strong and united Afghanistan ; for it
would leave only the phantom of an Amir at Kabul,

if it left that.
It would hand over to Russia, a
possible enemy, the two granaries of the Oxus basin.
It would necessitate a considerable addition to the
Indian army, and a burdensome charge upon Indian
finance
and, so long as English and Russian interests conflict in any part of the world, it would
;
place the Indian Empire in perpetual risk of panic.

These are the pros and cons which Englishmen will
be called upon to balance, when the question is ripe

a period that may come sooner than
for settlement
We may
many
imagine.
tition as a pis aller.
as a
some day be driven to parLet us at least not embrace it
programme.
In the face of such a
crisis it
may
J be worth
while Tte
to appraise
side.
some of the subsidiary
factors
Of the quality of the Afghan army it
to speak with positiveness.
On
it is
on either
is
difficult
said to be
paper
60,000 strong, and has an excellent organisation,
based on the English model, first adopted in 1869 by
Shir Ali, and since improved by Abdurrahman Khan.
There are divisions, brigades, regiments, batteries,
troops, and companies, adopting semi-British uniforms
But
English-sounding words of command.
though characterised by individual bravery, and formidable in guerilla or mountain warfare, the entire
and
force, in the absence of scientific drill or discipline,
The
quite unfitted to withstand a European army.
Bussians, who made mincemeat of the Afghan soldiery
is
Afghan
army
362
at the
for
Kushk
utmost contempt
although they are them-
in 1885, profess the
them on the
battle-field,
selves but partial judges, never having encountered

the warlike tribesmen of the Kabul province, who
have several times given the English great trouble.

Since that date, moreover, the Afghan army has been
rendered a more powerful body either for offence or
defence by the distribution of the rifles and ammunition
which the Indian Government has from time
to
time given to Abdurrahman, and to the employment

of which he owed his victory last year over Is-hak
Khan.
Inferior,
however, though the army
still
may
be from a European standpoint, it yet possesses

fighting material that might be shaped in qualified
hands into a valuable instrument of warfare.
It
was
1888 that the Amir had applied for

and
British officers to instruct and drill his troops
rumoured
in
although the request was either not made, or if made

was not granted, it is the unanimous opinion of
British officers who know the country and its people,
that,
led
by European commanders, the Afghans
would make
where
in
as fine a native soldiery as exists any-
the
East.
It
that Afghanistan
indeed as a recruiting
may develop a new military
is
ground
and political importance in the near future, the
Russians standing in urgent need of such an auxiliary
and sedentary character of all

the peoples, with the exception of the Turkomans,
whom they have yet subdued and the English also
requiring to tap some fresh springs of Eastern manowing
to the craven
hood, in view of the progressive deterioration and loss

of military instincts
among
363
those races on whose
hereditary valour they have hitherto relied. To the

English the experiment would be no new one. The
Afridis already
make
capital soldiers,
and have served
us faithfully in several wars. The Jamshidi irregulars

in the Amir's service provided an excellent cavalry
English Boundary Commissioners in

Further to the south, the Beluchi levies,
escort to the
1884-5.
organised by Sir Eobert Sandeman, are a splendid

body of men, and render invaluable service in the
mountainous region which they patrol.
Among
the
Pathans, Shinwarris, Duranis, Ghilzais, Hazaras, and

other fighting tribes of Afghanistan, there is abun-
dant material, which,
if
properly handled, with a due
regard to tribal idiosyncrasies and traditions, and

under guarantees of fixed payment, might in the
future be converted into a loyal and impenetrable
advanced guard protecting the glacis of the Indian

Empire. It has been calculated that 200,000 fighting
men might be
thus recruited between the Eussian and
English borders.
Eussia
is
fully alive to the existence
of such a possibility and if we do not use the material

for defence, she will enlist it for offence.
;
As regards
the respective popularity of the two

nations with the Afghans there is probably not much
intrinsically
sufficient
there
is
tp
choose.
In
either
case
there
memory
is
towards*
Against the English

of past invasions, the confidence
successes, and the contempt ex-
England
cause for dislike.
the
Sent i.
3 the
inspired by Afghan
cited by a policy of stern reprisals followed by misAgainst the Eussians is the
interpreted retreat.
564
recollection of the unpardonable breach of faith to

Shir Ali, who was entrapped by their counsels to his
ruin and then abandoned, the more recent outrage

on the Kushk, and the fear of a future destruction of
native
independence.
On
the other hand, British
country have left on record that the

manifested
a most friendly bearing towards
Afghans
them, and spoke of them as brothers while the
officers in the
British Commissioners
on
their return to India, in
October 1886, were received with much respect at

Kabul. There can be no doubt that the surrender of
Kandahar, though open to temporary misconception,

and the general avoidance of recent intrusion into
Afghan country, have predisposed the mass of the people to a more favourable
Afghan
politics or the
England than at any time during the

twenty years. For their part, the Russians, with
attitude towards
last
a sublime self-satisfaction, are equally convinced that

Afghanistan, in common with the rest of the East,
is
Apart from the
thirsting for the Muscovite yoke.
circumstances of the hour, the Afghans in all probability draw little distinction between the merits of the
two Powers,
their
one object being to keep their
independence and clan organisation
or, failing that, to
make the best terms, and perhaps keep the worst

that they can with the conqueror.
tinct
advantage to the British
for
own
Herein
lies
faith,
a dis-
England has shown
no desire
tamper with
Afghan freedom, while Russian advance can mean
clearly
enough
that she has
to
nothing short of annexation. To a large extent the

security of the Indian Empire in the future may be
THE ANGLO-RUSSIAN QVESTION
365
depend upon the chance, now offered to Great

Britain, of appearing, not as the enemy, but as the
said to
saviour, of Afghanistan.
fied his anti-Eussian bias,
The present Amir has testiand his resolve to maintain
the territorial integrity of his kingdom in his time by

applying for the services of British officers and the
a siege train, to assist

and defence of Herat; and
gift of
him
in the fortification
by planting along his

northern borders, both along Sir West Bidgeway's
frontier, and along the left bank of the Oxus between
Khulin and Kamiab, colonies of the most warlike
Afghan tribes, to resist the process of absorption

which Eussian intrigue was rumoured to be already
effecting with the more facile Uzbeg material in those
Too much reliance, however, must not be
parts.
placed upon the fighting capacity of the new garrisons.
The rouble is a powerful instrument of conciliation
and when the Comtc de Cholet records a clandestine
;
visit
of an Afghan frontier officer to the tent of Ali-
khanoff at Pul-i-Khatun, he
uncommon
incident.
is
probably relating no
It is scarcely possible to
exaggerate the importance
to Great Britain, indicated in the last paragraph, of
confirming the impression which the Afghan tribes

are already beginning to hold, that the English are,
and will be in the future still more, the defenders of
their national liberty.
It is the desirability
of strength-
ening this conviction that renders the present policy

of England towards Afghanistan one of peculiar
delicacy,
and that may be held

1
to
Excursion en Turkestan,
some extent
p. 124.
to
The
future
366
explain the attitude of reserve for which the Indian

Government might otherwise by some be held open
Too active an interference in support of a

whose savage dominion must be resented just
to blame.
ruler,
in proportion as
it is
feared
by his
subjects,
might con-
vey the opposite impression of a sovereign imposed

by hostile bayonets, and supported by alien rupees.
On
the other hand, while the
has an unquestioned claim
Amir remains
upon
loyal,
British backing.
he
The
English can neither afford to desert him, nor to allow

names to be too closely associated with the acts
their
of an unmerciful and barbarous system of repression.

If by a just mean the allegiance of Abdurrahman and
the stability of his throne can for
some time longer
be secured, and
we can
convey
the same time
if at
to the great
Afghan
tribes the
so clearly
dependence of
upon our
their hopes of continued national existence
death of the Amir, we shall find

them appealing to our help, rather than arming against
our dictation the Indian Government may consider
alliance, that, at the
has solved the Gordian knot by loosening

folds instead of cutting them in twain.
that
it
its
The Eussians are undoubtedly helped by the prodigious reputation which they have acquired in
Central Asia owing to an unchecked and apparently
advance, by the credit that their troops
of
enjoy
being merely the advanced guard of inexhaustible numbers, and by the noise and swagger
irresistible
of their
movement.
Bonvalot, as well as
It
by
has been noticed by M.
British officers
and
travellers,
that while the inhabitants of these regions are
amazed
367
at the wealth of England, they are impressed
by the
numerical strength of Eussia.

England from time
to time hurls at them a handful of soldiery, which
advances, conquers, and retires and they have no
idea of what may be proceeding upon the other side
of the Suleiman or Himalayan wall.
Eussia, on the
;
other hand, bears
down upon them
an incoming
sweeping
tide,
tended line of shore.
all
It is the
assertion of Eussia to which
like the flood of
before
along an ex-
it
numbers and the
self-
Abdurrahman makes
special allusion in his letter to the Viceroy of India,
acknowledging the
Boundary
It is
final
settlement of the Afghan
one of the results and consequences of the sincere
friendship of the two parties (i.e. England and Afghanistan)

that the Russian Government, notwithstanding its large
number of troops,
its
power and Us natural noise and despotand abstaining from

,
ism, has entered the door of refraining
conquest and war with these two auspicious Governments, as

it
knew
would
that
it
entail a
(the war) would have an
heavy
loss
on
unhappy
Had
itself.
it
and
result,
not seen the
foundation of the friendship of these two united kingdoms

strong and firm, and the basis of the affection and sympathy
of the two Governments solid and stable,
have come down from the palace of
its
it
would hardly
desire
and the man-
sion of its wish to subjugate Afghanistan and occupy India.

I look upon the kind friendship of the illustrious British
1
Vide Major C. E. Yate's Northern Afghanistan, p. 303
The
Afghans, I am sogry to say, are just as surprised as the Russians at
"
the smallness of our army. An Afghan general asked me, Why don't
you keep a larger army ? Look at the Russians. They have no money
*
You have lots of money but no men. Why

We are all ready to fight with you side by side,"
but they have lots of men.

don't you get
more
he added, and I believe he was sincere in saying so

bis head over the small number of our men.'
but
still
be shook
368
Government as the cause of the flourish of the

Afghan Government and it is undoubtedly so.
tree of the
Among
i
the steps that have been suggested for
and prointentions on the
fortifying British influence in Afghanistan,
curing timely warning of hostile

part of Russia,
is
the institution of British officers
advanced outposts of Balkh (Mazar-i-Sherif),

Maimena, and Herat. This has long been a vexata
at the
qutestio of
Central Asian politics, bequeathed from the
days of Dost
Mohammed and Lord
Mohammed
treated the refusal of such a concession
as a matter of principle,
mitted
it
to his son
on
and
is
Lawrence.
Dost
said to have trans-
his death-bed.
Shir Ali, while
never wavering in his opinion about Kabul, where

he argued that the appointment of a British officer
would both be unsafe, and would entail a loss of
prestige
upon
himself,
Durbar in 1869
was disposed
at the
Umballa
to consider favourably the appoint-
ment of agents at Balkh and Herat. Lord Mayo, however, was reluctant to commit himself to so positive a
step and when the project was revived at the Peshawur conference in 1877, Shir All's envoy would not
hear of any such concession. The murder of Cavagnari at Kabul in 1879, after the second Afghan war
had led to his nomination as Resident at the Court of
;
the Amir, naturally disposed men's minds to revert

to the policy of non-interference, and to magnify the
wisdom of Dost Mohammed and Shir Ali and the

proposal for a British representative at Kabul has not
;
Letter written on August 16, 1887.

Central Asia,' No. 1, 1888, p. 21.
1
'
Vide Parliamentary Papers,
369
The argument, however, that

hold good of the capital does
be
to
might
thought
not equally apply to Herat and Balkh, the former of
which places is inhabited by a mixed Iranian and
since been revived.
non-Afghan race, well-disposed towards the English,

and not given to violence or intrigue, while the latter
possesses an
Uzbeg or Turki population of
officers
similar
I cannot help thinking that British
characteristics.
might now with perfect safety be despatched

Herat, indeed, has twice been
to both these places.
governed for a considerable time by Englishmen, by

Pottinger in 1838, and by D'Arcy Todd in 1840, and
has lately been fortified under the direction of British
officers
and
if
Abdurrahman
attaches any value, as
he unquestionably does, to the retention of Afghan

Turkestan and the Herat province, he should be the
first to see the wisdom of such an
arrangement. At
Kandahar
similar
is
appointment
perhaps un-
necessary, or is certainly less necessary, as the town

within a few miles of the British frontier, and its
is
inhabitants are said to look
back
British occupation of 1879-81.
though
not to
there
historical precedent
wound Afghan
is
an
and
upon the
As regards Kabul,
ominous, and the desire
susceptibilities is praiseworthy,
undeniable
120,0002. a year
is
regretfully
absurdity
scientific
a monarch at whose court
we
in
presenting
of
warfare to
weapons
are not even permitted
to maintain a diplomatic representative,
Frere said very pertinently in 1881
bh
Bartle
"Vide Captain A. C. Yate's Travels with the Afghan Boundary

Commission, p. 375 ; and Major C. E. Yate's Northern Afghanistan,
pp. 15, 18, 21.
B B
370
I have never believed in the validity of this objection

of the English envoy), and I should con(i.e. the insecurity
sider it quite chimerical unless it were formally stated by the
In that case, I should point out to him the
ruler himself.
absurdity of his calling himself the ruler of a country where

he could not ensure the safety of an honoured guest. I
should decline to communicate with him except through a
representative accredited to him, like our envoys at other
Asiatic courts, and I should state clearly the impossibility of
our talking of friendly relations with a nation where our

1
representative would not be welcomed.
Li the same context Sir Charles MacGregor argued

that if A were murdered, we ought to send B, and if
were murdered, then C, and so on a logic which,

however incontestable and, to the student of Anglo;
Afghan diplomacy, refreshing, is more congenial to

Eussian than it is to British methods. It may be
pointed out that the present is a singularly opportune
moment for the renewal of such a demand, the attitude
of the Afghans being friendly, and the appointment of
English officers being now less susceptible of interpretation as a badge of Afghan subjection, than as
a guarantee of British alliance. In an emergency
native substitutes, such as
we now maintain
at
Kabul
and Herat, though they may do passably well in

untroubled times, will be found lacking both in
authority and prestige.
impending
ments of
BuBsian
Finally I turn to the question of impending developments of the Anglo-Russian question, and to
the steps, precautionary or otherwise, that should
be taken by
1
this country.
Africa and India.
By
Sir Bartle Frere.
1881.

Though
371
the attention of both our statesmen and
our soldiers has for long been mainly concentrated

upon the Herat-Kandahar line of advance, owing
to the superior physical advantages of the route for
an invading army, and though the Transcaspian

Bailway facilitates and encourages such a movement
on the part of Russia, it will be a great mistake if
we
ignore
the
Balkh-Kabul
of the selection of the
possibility
line.
The very
fact that
Great Britain
has been spending millions of money, laying miles of

rails, boring a tunnel, and constructing extensive
fortified
outworks
in Pishin,
may tempt
the Russians,
who
are not fonder than any other people of putting

head into the lion's mouth, to make an experiment in another direction. Kabul is at once the
their
capital of the sovereign, and the headquarters and

Without Kabul
rallying-place of Afghan fanaticism.
the Russians might boast of no mean conquest in

the acquisition of Herat and Afghan Turkestan.
But the conquest would not be of the Afghan ruler

Once at Kabul, however,
or of the Afghan people.
or in command of the routes to Kabul, they would
have driven a wedge into the heart of Afghanistan
itself, and would compel the Amir to become either
a fugitive or a puppet; whilst their position there
would have a secondary

importance, inasmuch as
of equal strategical
would enable them to
effect
it
i.
Baikh-
Kabul
turn the flank of a British army on the Helmund or

At Kabul, too, the greater proximity
at Kandahar.
India will always constitute a temptation to
Russia though it may be argued that this is counterto
BB2
line
372
balanced by the greater distance from her base on

the Oxus, and by the danger to which a Russian force
at
Kabul would always be exposed, of being cut off

when the defiles of the Hindu
in the winter months,
Kush, from 9,000 to 12,000 feet high, are impassable

from ice and snow. On the other hand, the Kabul
a superior fertility and cultivation
to any other portion of Northern Afghanistan, and
might constitute an advanced base in itself. We
district possesses
shall
do
well, therefore, to
keep a very watchful eye

as soon as our
upon Kabul and the North, and,
defensive operations are completed in Pishin, to see

whether there is not another door to the Indian
stable that
still
stands ajar.
Twice
in the last half
made the cockpit of

come to be regarded as a
century has Kabul been
British
it
disaster
may yet
of British salvation.
citadel
What
taken for
soldiers
after the
action
its
and
is
required, or
what
steps should
protection or reinforcement,
strategists
second Afghan
to
say.
War
it
is
be
for
was proposed
It
to continue the rails
from Peshawar up the Kliyber Pass to Lundi Kotal

(the frontier outpost held by an Afridi garrison).
This project has since been abandoned
and a limited
extension, only ten miles in length, within British

territory,
from Peshawur, to Jumrood at the mouth
In face of the
of the pass, has been authorised.
contingencies which I have named, the larger scheme
may
again be heard of ; and to those
who
detect in
such a proposal the glimmer of Jingo war-paint, I

make the unhesitating and unequivocal reply, based
373
upon a personal inspection of both the Indian and

the Russian frontier railways (in each case originally constructed for strategical purposes), that there
no such means of pacifying an Oriental country

and that if for
as a railway, even a military railway
is
bullets
and bayonets we substitute roads and railroads
as the motto of our future policy towards Afghanistan,
we shall find ourselves standing upon the threshold of

a new and brighter era of relations with that country.
Another proposal is to establish an advanced
British position at Peiwar Kotal or thereabouts, at
the head of the
Kurum
Valley,
commanding
the ap-
proach both to Ghuzni and from the south to Kabul.
The Kurum Valley
not in Afghan possession, being

one of the assigned districts ceded to Great Britain
by the treaty of Gundamuk in May 1879, and subseis
quently handed over by us, as a reward for faithful

services during the war, to the local tribe of the Turis,
Mahometans, are antagonistic to the

Sunnite Afghans, and who are understood not merely
who, being
Shiite
but even to desire, British reoccuwas part of the scheme of Lord Beacons-
not to object
It
pation.
to,
Frontier to station a British garrison

at Peiwar, and to raise a local corps for military ser-
field's Scientific
vice.
good road, more than once
utilised in
our
Afghan campaigns, leads up the Kurum Valley from

the present Indian frontier to Peiwar and the posi;
tion thus acquired would, without
wounding Afghan
a double strategical signifiboth

as
an
alternative route to Kabul
cance,
providing
and as facilitating the relief or occupation of Ghuzni.
susceptibilities, possess
374
ii.
The
Persian
Question
second, and in some respects an even
more
probable, arena of future activity is presented by

Persia stands a
Persia and the Persian Question.
good second
to
Afghanistan in the category of British
diplomatic failure in the East, the result in this instance less of positive error than of deplorable
The Russian situation in Persia at the
neglect.
present moment
statement that it
may be roughly
by the
is the counterpart, on a much more
extended scale, of that which was enjoyed by England
The influence
in the early years of this century.
indicated
and authority then exercised at Teheran by British

representatives have now been transferred to our
rivals,
who
owned by
possess
the
further
advantage, never
a complete military and strategical

ascendency along the entire northern frontier of
Persia from the Araxes to the Heri Rud. With
us, of
Transcaucasia strongly garrisoned by Russian troops,

the Caspian a Russian lake, and Transcaspia a
military province, traversed
by a
railway, Persia
in the position of the scriptural vineyard

is
is
whose wall
broken down, and the King of kings is as helpless

His powerlessness culmi-
as a fly in a spider's web.
Khorasan, where
the commercial monopoly of Russia has already been
mentioned, and which is fast becoming a Russian
nates
in the eastern province of
The Khans of Bujnurd, Kuchan,

Dereguez, and Kelat wear Russian clothes and learn
mediatised state.
the Russian language.

Presents are freely distributed
them
the
Russian
authorities in Transby
among
caspia,
and Russian brandy and arrack complete
375
Russian agents are scattered

the dissolvent process.
Eussian Consulthrough all the important towns.
General with a Cossack escort dominates Meshed.

In the country districts the Russians have earned
popularity by putting a successful stop to the
Turkoman
by which
raids
the
miserable
native
and decimated;
peasantry was formally harassed

while their administration, with its astute exemptions
for native peoples, would be preferred by many to the
As long ago as
imbecile depravity of Persian rule.
1875 Sir Charles MacGregor reported in his journey
through the country that the people were longing
for the Russians to
to
the Czar
is
come
said
extensively signed
to
among
and
later
on a petition
have been circulated and

the towns and villages of
Khorasan, praying for incorporation.

Not satisfied with an ascendency apparently so
well secured, Russia, in response to the challenge
thrown down by Great Britain in the matter of the
Karun River concession in the South, has recently

been giving a few more turns to the diplomatic screw
in the North.
The concessions demanded by Prince
and
rumoured to have been partially
Dolgorouki,
conceded by the Shah, include a Russian monopoly
of railway construction in Persia, the completion of
the cliaussie before spoken of between Askabad and
Meshed, the opening up to Russian navigation of the

Enzeli lagoon, and the construction of a high road
The demand of a railway

concession has an importance that will presently be
seen.
The two concluding stipulations mean the
from Resht to Teheran.
Russian
ency and
weakness
376
conversion of the Enzeli lagoon, which is the maritime

approach to Resht, into a Russian harbour, and of
Resht
itself into
a Russian town
and, as a conse-
quence of this fact and of the improved communications with the capital, the final Russification of
There is not either in the Persian sovereign,
the Persian administration, in the Persian army,
Teheran.
in
or in the Persian people, any material capable of
opposing a prolonged resistance to these or any

demands that Russia may choose by threats to
The Shah, whatever he may feel, and he

probably feels bitterly, cannot act. The administraThe only valuable
tion is utterly rotten and corrupt.
enforce.
army, consisting of the so-called

Cossack regiments at Teheran i.e. Persians trained,
portion of
drilled,
the
and equipped upon the Russian model, and

officers
is an instrument in
commanded by Russian
No
Russia's hands.
unity or national spirit exists in
the country.
distinguished foreign diplomat is

said to have once remarked, after a long Persian ex'
perience
Cest
dernier des
le
pays
et le
dernier des
peuples?
What, however,
in
and wherein,
cendency
in
it
11
it
may be asked, is the significance,
ITdanger
at all, lies the
Northern Persia and Khorasan?
question I will answer. I

serious
and irremediable
British trade
P -n
of Russian as-
and
it is
This
have already pointed out the

loss inflicted
thereby upon
in Persia that the
commercial
rivalry between Russia and Great Britain is at present

a factor of more momentous operation than in any
But Russian statesmanship,
other part of the East.
377
here as elsewhere, has a political and strategical as

well as a fiscal aim. Just as the control of N. and N.W.
Persia supplies a base against Armenia arid the frontier provinces of Turkey in Asia Minor, so the absorption of N.E. Persia and Khorasan will provide an
alternative route of advance, either
upon Herat
or,
through Seistan, upon Beluchistan and India itself,

With Khorasan a Russianised province, there will be
no need
to .violate
any Anglo-Afghan
resources of that fertile
county
Herat
frontier
the
will furnish the re-
either be
quisite supplies
may
approached
from the west or for a while may be left severely
alone the Khojak and Quetta may be coolly disre;
garded; and the newly-fortified British frontier in

Pishin may even find itself turned from the west.
Such
is
a more than possible evolution, in the near
future, of Russian policy in Central Asia.

But there is greater mischief than the prospective An eye
6
overland danger to India lurking in the conception. Persian
Russia,
hampered
in warfare
by being mainly a land
power, has long been on the search for a new seaboard, and has directed cove tons eyes upon the Persian
Gulf.
The
acquisition of North Persia
and Khorasan
only preliminary to a southerly move towards the

Straits of Ormuz or the Indian Ocean. Now, therefore,
is
appears in all its significance the demand for a railway concession throughout Persia, as the obvious
and necessary means of effecting that advance. Of

Russian supremacy in North Persia, I do not think
that Englishmen, having foolishly allowed the prize
to slip from their grasp long years ago, have much
378
they are fully enBut Bussia at Ispahan,
right to complain, though with
it
and ought to compete.

Shiraz, and Bushire, Kussia on the Persian
titled
Gulf
with a seaport, a naval dockyard and a fleet, is a

The commercial argument,
very different thing.
weighty before, is even more weighty here for at
;
present England enjoys almost a monopoly, and that

a highly lucrative monopoly, of the import trade with
But, again, the political and strateAre we prepared

gical arguments are stronger still.
to surrender the control of the Persian Gulf and to
Southern Persia.
divide that of the Indian

to
make
Ocean
Are we prepared
the construction of the Euphrates Valley
Railway, or of some kindred scheme of the future,,

an impossibility for England and an ultimate certainty
for
Eussia?
capital in the
Is
Bagdad
South
to
become a new Russian
Lastly, are
we
content to see
a naval station within a few days' sail of Kurrachi,

and to contemplate a hostile squadron battering
Bombay ?
British
rejoinder
do not think there can be two opinions among

Englishmen that there is no justification, either in
I
policy or in reason, for exposing India to such a danger,

or for allowing South Persia to fall into Russian
hands.
But,
it
may be
asked,
how can such
a con-
summation be prevented ?
It can be prevented only

Great
Britain
by
undertaking the task herself, with
no view to territorial annexation or increase of ad-
ministrative responsibility, but with sole regard to the

maintenance in South Persia of British as against
Russian commercial and political
interests.
In other
380
connection, which might be effected either by a

branch from Darwaza, at the head of the Quetta valley,
or from Gulistan, at the base of the
Amran
range, to
Nasirabad and Lash Juwain
Nushki, and thence
to
or, as suggested
others, the
Kandahar extension,
by
when completed, might be still further extended to
Oirishk, whence, from a more northerly direction, the
same objective could easily be attained. In neither

case do physical obstacles worth consideration intervene.
a
Heititan
railway
Such a railway would be essentially a commercial,

and not a strategical undertaking, inasmuch as it
_
would not merely open up
Seistan, but would provide

a southern way of entiy into Khorasan itself, which
would be brought into nearer communication with the
Indian Ocean.
At
the same time
act as a deterrent to
its
execution might
any Eussian operations against
Herat, and would effectually checkmate the flank
movement
described.
against Beluchistan, which I just now

Of all the possible suggestions for coun-
menace
India by pacific and

honourable means, the construction of such a railteracting Eussian
way
is
to
at once the least aggressive, the cheapest,
the most profitable.
and
Connection with the seaboard
on by a southerly branch to
Gwadur, on the Indian Ocean, or to Bender Abbas,
on the Persian Gulf. Looking still further into the
might be
future,
effected later
we may contemplate
as feasible
an extension
of the railway system, thus inaugurated, through
South Persia rid Kirman and Yezd

Shiraz,
and Bushire;
in
to
Ispahan,
which direction a junction
381
would naturally be effected with the commercial

routes opened up by the Karun River concession, to
which it would constitute the appropriate corollary.
The policy thus recommended is not difficult, and
would in time be enormously remunerative. It involves no offence, and would be the salvation of
Southern Persia.
why
it
There
not the slightest reason

should not be carried out, if the consent of
is
the Shah were forthcoming ; and powerless though he

be in the clutch of Russia in the north, I am unable to
see
why,
in a matter affecting the southern portion
of his dominions, with which Eussia can profess no

straightforward or legitimate concern, Prince Dol-
gorouki should be the sole custodian of the royal ear.

In bringing
this chapter to a close, I am conscious summary
e
\
of having covered a wide area, from the Pamir to

Persia, and of having inadequately touched upon
many important
topics.
been, to the best of
my
My
object, however, has
ability, to
expose the pre-
and dimensions of the Anglo-Russian

problem, nowhere, so far as I know, discussed in its en
sent character
tirety
future
to supply the material for a horoscope of the
by a
careful examination of the antecedents,
the position, the designs, the advantages, and also

the drawbacks, of both parties in the possible struggle,
and
to indicate
to
my
cautionary measures by
readers some of the prewhich that struggle may
either be averted, or, if not averted,
plated
by
this
may be
country without apprehension.
contem-
of this
chapter
382
CHAPTER X
Not but wut abstract war

I sign to thet
with
all
is
my
horrid
heart
But civlysation does git forrid

Sometimes upon a powder cart.
J. B. LOWELL, The Biglow Papers.
Merits and demerits of Russian rule Abolition of raids and gift of

security- -Russian power firmly established Its causes Memory
of slaughter Overpowering military strength of Russia Certainty
Popularity of Russia L aissez-faire
Treatment of native chiefs Conciliation of native
peoples Defects of Russian character Low civilisation Attitude
towards Mahometan religion Towards native education Bravery
and endurance of Russian character Military ease of Russian
advance Contrast between English and Russian facilities Comparative security of dominions Seamy side of Russian civilisation
Bad roads General conclusions as to Russian government
that she will not retreat
attitude
Schemes
country Irrigation Diversion of

Cotton plantation Sericulture and viti-
for regeneration of the
the Oxus to
its
old bed
cultureColonisation
Attitude of Great Britain
Responsibilities
of Russia.
Merits and
demerits
of,RuBaian
FROM a
discussion of the rival interests of England

.
and Russia in Central Asia, I proceed, in conclusion,

to give some account of the strength, and if anywhere
it
be
so, of the
weakness of Russian
rule.
No
possi-
bility of future collision, no fear of ultimate conflict,
need deter an Englishman from an honest recognition

of national merit, or of services rendered to the cause
of humanity. In a sphere distinct, and yet not alien,
383
from that in which Great Britain has herself achieved
many successes and perpetrated some
failures, friendly
permissible, while jealousy is absurd.

First, then, it cannot be doubted that Eussia has Abolition
conferred great and substantial advantages upon the and^t of
criticism
is
Central Asian regions which she has reduced to her

sway. Those who have read descriptions of the state
of the country from the Caspian to the Amu Daria,

in the pre-Kussian days of rapine and raid, when
agriculture
was devastated, life and property rendered

entire populations were swept off under
insecure, and
circumstances of unheard-of barbarity into a life-long

servitude, can form some idea of the extent of the
revolution
by which peace and order and returning
prosperity have been given to these desolated tracts ;

and the traveller, who once dared not move abroad
without a powerful escort, is enabled to wander with

impunity over the unfrequented plain. The experiences of Vambery, of MacGregor, of Valentine Baker,
and of every English voyager in or near the Tur-
koman
country,
contrasted with
my own
modest
At
members of the
narrative, illustrate the immensity of the boon.
a comparatively
recent
date
the
Boundary Commission reported
that,
or four years before their
Turkoman marauders
visit,
till
within three
used to scour the country as far as Farrah, 150 miles

south of Herat, that between Sarakhs and Kuhsan
the land was utterly depopulated, and that raiding1
parties were pushed to the very walls of Meshed.
Vide Captain A. C. Yate's Travels with the Afghan Boundary
Commission, pp. 150-159.
1
384
Except among the Persian Turkomans of the Atrek

border, the alaman may be said now to be a thing of
the past.
me
Let
quote here
the
words of Sir Henry
Eawlinson on the subject, spoken at a meeting of

the Eoyal Geographical Society in 1882
:
No
arms
one
will question
but that the extension of Russian
Caspian has been of immense benefit

The substitution, indeed, of Russian rule for
to the east of the
to the country.
that of the Kirghiz, U/Jbegs, and Turkomans throughout a
large portion of Central Asia has been an unmixed blessing
to humanity.
The execrable
slave trade, with its concomi-
tant horrors, has been abolished, brigandage has been suppressed, and Mahometan fanaticism and cruelty have been
Commerce at the same

generally mitigated and controlled.
time has been rendered more secure, local arts and manufactures have been encouraged,
and the wants of the inhabitants
have been everywhere more seriously regarded than

under Asiatic rulers.
This
is
at once a significant
is
usual
and a handsome admis-
coming, as it does, from one whom Eussian

writers are never tired of representing as choregus
sion,
of the choir of English Eussophobes and Jingoes.

Voyaging through the country myself, and seeing on
all
sides the
mouldering
fortalices
and towers that
spoke so eloquently of the savage tenure of the past,

I could not repress a feeling of gratitude to those
who had
substituted peace for chronic warfare,
and
order for barbaric anarchy. The desolation from

which the land still suffers is the product of natural
causes, whose operation may be checked but cannot
be altogether reversed
and not of human passions,
XUSS7A1T
RULE IF CENTRAL ASIA
385
which were so long and ruthlessly devoted to making

If we
still more terrible the terrors of the desert.
still meet with but a scanty population, if the towns
are more like villages, and the villages like clusters
of hovels, and if civilisation is still in an embryonic
stage, let us remember that it is only a decade since
there was neither sedentary population, nor town,
nor civilisation and that thus a land is being slowly
won to the service of man which man himself has
hitherto rendered a byword and a curse. The Russian
eagle may at first have alighted upon the eastern
shores of the Caspian with murderous beak and sharpened talons, but, her appetite once satisfied, she has
shown that she also came with healing in her wings.
Turning to the dominion of Russia and the
means by
which it is assured, I make with equal
J
;
pleasure
me
the acknowledgment that
to be firmly
and
it
appeared to
fairly established,
and
to
be
loyally accepted by the conquered races.

Though
we hear a good deal in books of the fanaticism of
Mussulman populations, and might expect
still
more
from the resentment of deposed authority, or the

revenge of baffled licence, revolts do not occur and
mutinies are not apprehended
the subjugated
I attribute this to several reasons to the
among
peoples.
ferocious severity of the original blow ; to the powerlessness of resistance against the tight military grip
that is kept by Russia upon the country ; and to the
:
certainty,
which a long course of Russian conduct
has reasonably inspired, that she will never retreat*

A few words about each of .these.
c c
miyestablished.
ite cause*
386
Memory
The
o!
laughter
terrifying effect of such a massacre as
Geok
Tepe survives for generations. The story is repeated

from father to son, and from son to grandson, losing
horror in the process of lineal transmisThe ruined walls of the fortress remain to
none of
sion.
its
add a melancholy emphasis to the tale. Meanwhile,

though the fathers were slain, the sons have grown
up
Several of the sur-
into contented citizenship.
vivors stand high in the service of the conqueror.

heard with a shudder the tale
A new generation has
of national downfall, but itself only remembers a

later order, and can scarcely imagine a time when
the Ouroussi were not masters in the land.
The second reason,
Over-
miuS*
strength of Eussia in
cogent
the overpowering military

the country, is even more
viz.
in its application,
and must be held
to detract
somewhat from the brilliancy of her achievement.

The proportion of soldiers to subjects in Transcaspia
and Turkestan
(figures
of which,
contrasted with
those of British India, I gave in an earlier chapter)
such as to render any attempt at opposition a

Eussian Central Asia is indeed one vast
fiasco.
is
armed camp, and the
traveller,
several weeks' journey
Eussian
civilian,
who
eyes upon a
with respect for the
scarcely
comes away
in the course of
sets
but without much surprise at the peaceful

When the Russians boasted
of
the people.
attitude,
to me, as they habitually did, of their own popularity^
discretion,
contrasted with British odium in India, I could not
help remembering that I had seen a great Indian

city of 80,000 inhabitants, and a hotbed of idolatrous

superstition, held in peaceful control
civilians,
387
by four English
without the aid of a single red-coat.
could not help recalling the lacs of rupees, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling,
spontaneously offered by Indian princes, in order
that this very popularity, of which I now heard so
much, might not be brought any nearer to their
odium might continue to

forget Lord Duff'erin's offer
doors, but that the familiar
be their lot.
Nor could
the Punjabi chiefs, that their irregular troops

should, under native command, but by the aid of
to
British instruction, be turned into disciplined bat-
and presented with breechloading
talions,
rifles
and
Kecalling these facts, _ and comparing them with what I saw in Transcaspia, I did
not feel that the inequality was precisely what my
batteries of guns.
Russian friends supposed.
conviction of the permanence of Eussia and
a third and important element in explaining the bases of her power.

A
forward movement, whether voluntarily undertaken,
of Eussian conquests
is
or beneath the pressure of circumstances, is seldom re1

pented of and never receded from. No return tickets
are issued to a punitive foray of Cossacks.
Advance
'
is inexorably followed by annexation.
J'y suis, fy
reste,'
There
is
is
watchword of the Eussian vanguard.

no likelihood of 'making it so hot' for
the
1
The case of Kulja, occupied by Russia in 1871, and restored to
China in 1881, may F eem, but is not, an exception, for its occupation
was merely temporary and conditional ; and, as a matter of fact, the
pledge of retrocession was not redeemed by Russia without a substantial quid pro quo, the extortion of which all but led to war.
cod
certainty
wiiinot
388
Eussia that, for sake of peace, or economy, or men's

hornets' nest
lives, she will waver or fall back.
raised about her head
withdrawal
of
by a hasty
intruding member, but by a
the
is
followed, not
wholesale extermination of the insects.
How different
from the English method, which shrinks from annexation as from a spectre which publishes to the world,
;
chivalrous design of
Eetreat, and which, instead
including the guilty party,
Eetribution followed
by
its
of reaping from a frontier campaign the legitimate

harvest of assured peace and good government in the
embers of revenge in
the ruins of burnt villages and desolated crops,
future, leaves the smouldering
certain, sooner or later, to burst out into a fresh
conflagration
ft
Popularity
would be
unfair, however,
both to Eussian
character and to Eussian policy, to suggest that it is

owing solely to prudential reasons that there is no
antagonism to her sway. Such calculations

ensure its stability, but they do not explain its
visible
may
favour.
add the recognition that,

ascertain, Eussian dominion is
I gladly, therefore,
so far as I
was able
to
not merely accepted by, but is acceptable to the bulk

of her Asiatic subjects, and that the ruling class,
though feared,
is
also personally esteemed.
Eussia
unquestionably possesses a remarkable gift for enlisting the allegiance and attracting even the friend^
ship of those
whom
she has subdued by force ;of

arms, a faculty which is to be attributed as much to
the defects as to the excellences of her character.
Let
me
first
mention the
latter.
RUSSIAN RULE IK CENTRAL ASIA

The extreme frankness and
389
amiability of Eussian
i
t'
a genuine bonhomie and a goodhumoured insouciance, which render it easy for them
to make friends and which disarm the suspicion even
manners cover
The Eussian
of a beaten foe.
He
sense of the word.
is
attitude
fraternises in the true
guiltless of that air of con-
scious superiority and gloomy hauteur, which does

more to inflame animosity than cruelty may have done
to kindle
social
races.
it,
and he does not shrink from entering into
and domestic
His
relations with alien or inferior
own unconquerable carelessness renders it
easy for him to adopt a laissez-faire attitude towards

others, and the tolerance with which he has treated
the religious practices, the social customs, and the
local prejudices of his Asiatic fellow-subjects is less
the outcome of diplomatic calculation than
ingrained nonchalance.
remarkable feature
Central Asia
of
it
is
of
the Eussification of
the employment given by the conqueror to her former opponents on the field of battle.
I mentioned in an earlier chapter the spectacle of
is
which I was* a witness at Baku, where the four Khans

of Merv were assembled in Eussian uniform to greet
method
that Eussia has consistently employed, and which is a
branch of the larger theory of Massacre followed by
Embraces that was so candidly avowed by SkobelefE
The chiefs are sent to St. Petersburg to excite their
the Czar.
This
is
but a casual
illustration of a
wonderment, and are covered with decorations to

When they come back they are
gratify their vanity.
confirmed in their posts or
offices,
and are presently
Treatment
390
rewarded with an increased prerogative.
number
is,
Their small
why they may be so

The English have never
of course, a reason
employed with impunity.

shown a capacity to avail themselves of the services
I reof their former enemies on a similar scale.
member reading only a
short time ago an account

Boer
of
the
British annexation of the
an
old
given by
Transvaal, and the troubles, culminating in Majuba
His explanation of the discontent

a
and rebellion was
very simple one, and probably
'
If you had made
contained a good deal of truth.
Hill, that
ensued.
maaters (chums)/ he said, * with Oom Paul (Kruger),

and a few others of our leading men, and given them
posts, and if you had listened a little to them, and had
not been so terribly hoogmoedaag (high and mighty),
'
'
would have gone well/ The high and mighty

policy has been at the root of a good many English
all
converse has been responsible for

Eussian successes.
failures, just as its
a good
Concilia-
many
With
the followers a not less successful policy is

adopted than towards the chiefs. As soon as fighting
is
over they are invited back to their homesteads, and
to the security of undisputed possession
tempered by
a moderate taxation. The peasant is satisfied, because,
under more scientific management, he gets so many
cubic feet more water from his canals and so
many
bushels more grain from his land. The merchant is

pleased, because he sells his wool or his cotton at a
bigger price than it realised before. All are amenable

to the comfort and utility and cheapness of Eussian
Manufactured
articles, in contrast
with the clumsy
391
and primitive furniture of their previous lives. Above

all, security is a boon which none can depreciate
;
and
if
the extinction of the
alaman
is
a cause of
few scores or hundreds, it is an unmixed

Eussian authority presents
blessing to thousands.
regret to a
the native populations in the twofold guise

of liberty and despotism
liberty, because in many
respects they enjoy a freedom which they never knew
before ; despotism, centred in the image of the Great
itself to
White Czar, which

government
We may
is
an inalienable attribute of
to the Oriental mind.
panorama of Eussian
advance, a uniform procession of figures and succession
of acts, implying something more than a merely adtrace indeed, in the
ventitious series of events.
comes the Cossack,

occupation, at once
First
brave in combat and affable in
the instrument of conquest and the guarantee of reNext follow the merchant and the pedlar,
tention.
spreading out before astonished eyes the novel wares,
the glittering gewgaws, and the cheap conveniences of
new and lucrative market is opened for
Europe.
native produce. Prompt payment in hard cash proves

to be a seductive innovation.
Presently appear the
vestments and icons, conferring a

divine benediction upon the newly established order ;
priest with
his
the tchinovnik and kindred

settlement
symptoms of organised
the liquor-shop and its vodka, to expedite,
even while debasing, the assimilative process; the
and tax collector, as the final stamp of Imperial

Supremacy. Then when a few years, or sometimes
only months, have gone by, imposing barracks rise,
official
392
postal
and telegraph
offices are built,
a railway
is laid,
colonists are invited, the old times are forgotten, and

air of drowsy quiescence settles down
upon the
an
spot
was scoured by predatory bands
that a decade before
Buggian
wi
or precariously peopled by vagabond tribes.

On the other hand, the Eussians have been aided
in the
work of pacification by
qualities which, though

discreditable to civilised peoples, are familiar by immemorial usage as well as by national instinct to
To an unrefined race such
Oriental tribes.
latter
a want of refinement
is
as the
not shocking.
To
peoples with whom lying is no disgrace (vide Alikhanoff's description of the Turkomans, quoted in
Chapter V.) untruthfulness presents no novelty. To
a
society
trained
ODonovan's
crime.
The
of Orientals
in
and
theft
dishonesty (vide
Merv
Oasis/ passim) corruption is no

conquest of Central Asia is a conquest
by
Orientals, of cognate character
cognate character.
It
weaker metal, but
it is
by
the fusing of strong with

not the expulsion of an im-
is
pure by a purer element. Civilised Europe has not

marched forth to vanquish barbarian Asia. This is
no nineteenth- century crusade of manners or morals
;
but barbarian
Asia,
Europe, returns upon
after
its
in
civilised
sojourn
former* footsteps to reclaim
own kith and kin. Assimilation is less remarkable

when rulers are severed from subjects by a gap of but
a few centuries, and when no impassable chasm of
its
intellect or character intervenes.
Europe
is
dizzy progress
is
A system backward
forward in Central Asia
in
there
stagnation here
and coarser agencies are

better fitted for the
work
393
of redemption than a
more
polished instrument.
No more
striking
illustration
of the policy of
laissez-faire, of which I have spoken, can be given

than the attitude which Eussia has throughout
adopted towards those institutions which are com-
monly the rally ing-ground of prejudice and superstition among Mahometans, namely, the religion and the
education of the native peoples. The former she has
absolutely left alone. The Mullahs have been allowed
the dervishes alone
to teach and preach the Koran
;
have been restrained in
their fanatical importunities
mosques have even, in some cases, been repaired by

and at one time the Government
Eussian means
actually went so
far
as
to
build mosques
itself
No
Eussian propaganda has been tolerated in Central Asia proseand it is a curious but signifilytism is tabooed
for the conciliation of the Kirghiz.
we
cant fact that
find Eussian writers boasting that
Church has never despatched a missionary to

Prom
Central Asia nor made an Asiatic convert.
one point of view this policy has had the most satistheir
factory results for the bigotry, which persecution or

even covert hostility might have sharpened, has sunk
;
into
an indifference which
more thorough
will
political union.
pave the way to a

But how different is
system from that of the English Church, whose

missionary activity is the wonder, if unfortunately it
is not the redemption, of foreign lands, and which
this
aspires to create converts almost before

citizens
There
is
this
it
has
made
broad difference between the
Attitude
394
problem which has confronted the two nations in

Central Asia that the Eussians have so far come into
contact with only one, and that a Monotheistic creed ;
while the English have found themselves plunged
into a weltering sea of
Pagan
superstition
and blind
idolatry.
Towards
cation
The contrast between the rival methods is nowhere

more conspicuous than in the field of native education.
If England has recognised a special and primary
obligation in her dealings with conquered peoples it
has always been in the education and development of
the young.
Indeed, her lavish distribution of the resources of culture and knowledge in India is the main
cause of the
tion
is
now
children,
difficulties
with which her administra-
confronted.
Wisdom
is
justified of
her
and those who have caught the glamour of
nineteenth-century learning are not content to sink

back into the slough of primordial ignorance. The
Russians have proceeded upon very different lines.
The educational habits and

Mussulman subjects have been
of
their
untouched.
The
institutions
left
primary schools, and the medresses, or

high schools, still communicate their straitened and
mektebs, or
stinted learning, their senseless lessons

their
palsied philosophy,
subjects,
whom
to
not an effort
by
rote,
and
thousands of Kussjan
is
made
to
lift
on to
a higher plane of intellectual development.

The
Government does not even supervise the collection
or distribution of the vakufs, or religious endowments
and large sums of money are annually left to the dis;
cretion of unlettered Mullahs
and
priests.
That a
395
dawning, and that Russia is

beginning to recognise her duties towards those with
whose rule she is charged, may be gathered from the
better era, however,
is
which I quoted
details
in
an
earlier chapter
upon
Tashkent.
Such, broadly speaking, have been the means by

which Russia has gained her position, and having
gained
it,
military
has made
superiority
material advantages
tration
dence.
it
;
secure
namely, overwhelming
the gift of
tolerant adminis-
a resolute policy
equable and
personal popularity ; and a calculating pruLet me add thereto that, in the process, the
conquerors have exhibited qualities of a very high
The
respect and admiration.
perhaps the most faithful modern
commanding
order,
Russian soldier
is
parallel to the Spartan.
He would let the
his vitals without uttering a groan.
wolf tear at
Endued with great
hardihood and power of self-sacrifice, possessed of a

blind but inspiring devotion to duty, he takes his orders
The child of a
silently and executes them promptly.
Northern and Arctic clime, he serves without a murmur
in fervid deserts and under excruciating suns.
En-
camped
in the wilderness, he builds huts
and houses
that recall memories of home, and with singing and

merriment he peoples the solitude with cheerful
fancies.
birth,
Above
all,
he
is
animated by a lofty pride of
and by an unfaltering
faith in the destiny of his
It is of such stuff that heroes and great

country.
nations alike are made, and by such hands that em-
pires
have commonly been
built.
Other considerations, however, there are which
Bravery
ranee of
character
396
Military
e&fteof
Radian
must
also be taken into view.
arising from the nature

it
Apart from
difficulties
and climate of the country,
cannot be contended
that,
in
their
career of
Central Asian conquest, the Russians have been confronted with
any very formidable
obstacles.
The
only two critical military operations in which they

have been engaged were the native attempt to recapture the citadel of Samarkand in 1868, after
had marched away
Kaufmann
JJokharan army,
in pursuit of the
leaving only a small garrison behind and the siege

The former was a heroic performof Geok Tepe.
;
ance
the
success
some extent, an artificial

SkobelefTs one fear, based on a wide
latter was, to
for
knowledge of Oriental adversaries, was lest the

Turkomans should escape him by flight, before he
could administer the necessary lesson.
As
it
was,
the siege reflected at least as much credit upon the

Tekkes as it did upon the Russians for the former,
;
with no guns, and only inferior rifles, exposed to a

murderous artillery fire behind the worst possible
defence in the world
viz.
a walled enclosure in a
level plain, with higher
the
enemy
ground in the possession of

exhibited a gallantry beyond praise. The
with Kirghiz, Khokandians, and Bokwere mostly walks over/ and must ordinarily
earlier fights
liariots
'
have degenerated into a rout almost from the
start,
the ludicrous disproportion of slain, returned in

the Russian official reports of the engagements, be
if
So far the Russians in their

accepted as true.
advance have not met one genuinely warlike people
or fought one serious battle.
Their prodigious pres-

tige has
had the
397
of Joshua's trumpets before

No one knew this better than
effect
the walls of Jericho.
who told an amusing story of the capture

When the
of lira Tope by Romanovski in 38G6.
aksakals (grey-beards) of the town were brought
Skobeleff,
before
the
Russian commander they kept asking
'
But where are the giants that breathed out fire ?

Romanovski discreetly answered that he had sent
the giants back to Russia, but
the first necessity.
This
_.
one
is
T
Russian and
only
it
is
won
would
contrasts
"
among many
i
British conquests
India after
recall
terrific
in
Asia.
battles,
(hem
at
between
TÎI
England
*;
Mahrattas and Rajputs, than among her tenderly

as
was the task
set before
England
Great, however,
in
comparison with
Russia, in acquisition, still greater is the strain of

The English are thousands of miles from
retention.
home, and are severed therefrom by continents and

oceans.
The Russians are
still
between
Engiuh
and only holds Rummm

facilities
by the allegiance of warlike peoples. Indeed, she

far safer in the masculine hands of Sikhs and
reared nurseries of hot-house liabus.
contrat
in Russia.
From
St.
Petersburg to Tashkent, or from Odessa to Merv, a

Russian never leaves Russian soil he is still in the
;
fatherland, speaking the same language and observing the same customs. The expansion of Russia is
the natural growth of the parent stem, whose stately

circumference swells larger and larger each year.
The expansion of England is the throwing out of
a majestic branch which exhausts and may even

Or,
ultimately break off from the maternal trunk.
398
to adopt another metaphor, Russia, in unrolling the
skein of her destiny, keeps one end of it fast held in

her own hand, and is in unbroken connection with
the other extremity.
England has divided her skein
into a multitude of threads, and has scattered them
In Central Asia the

broadcast over the globe.
In India
as
well
as rulers.
are
residents
Russians
English are a relief band of occupants, leaseholders of a twenty years' term, yearning for the
expiration of their contract, and for the ship that
the
In Turkestan and Transcaspia

Russians are more obvious to the naked eye than are
will
bear them home.
their subjects, and, as 1

far
have
said,
more obvious than Russian
the English are swallowed
up
Russian soldiers are

civilians.
in a
In India
mighty ocean of
humanity. You may travel for days, if at any distance from the railway, and never catch sight of a
white man and your ram avis when you find him
;
will not
u
r!tyof
have scarlet plumage.
further contrast
presented by the relative

two dominions. Many
of
the
or
insecurity
security
and
different
is
enemies have
it
in their
With an
power
mischief upon India.

most part defenceless seaboard, she
hostile
navies.
Her
different outlets, not.
Upon
the north
to
wreak
extensive and for the
exposed to
commerce finds a huadred
one of which
is
is
safe
and north-west she
is
from attack.
galled and
worried by the stings of fanatical tribes. Russia

alone can drive her into a ferment by moving a
few furlongs.
On the
other hand, the Russian Empire in Central Asia is irnsingle sotnia of Cossacks a
RULE IN CENTRAL ASIA
JIUSSIAtf
Every avenue of approach

pregnable.
is no enemy at her gates.
there
hands
in her own
No Armada
is
can threaten where there are no seas
309
no
hostile
army can operate at such a gigantic distance from its

base.
England can do her no positive injury. Her
commerce
is
overland and cannot bo touched
her
and cannot be severed.

We have no interest in further advance. Our hands
Russia is growing and spreading, is headare full.
and
young and rash fingers are never wantstrong
communications arc secure
ing to
her
beckon her
it
is
on.
folly for us.
Aggression may be sense for

The utmost we hope for is
to arrest her before the
Rubicon of our honour
reached; the least we desire
is
to
provoke her
is
to
plunge into the stream.

I have indicated the brighter
Searay<ie
tures of Russian civilisation in Central Asia.
civilisation
is
a seamy side as well.
and redeeming feaThere

Drunkenness and gambling
and prostitution have followed, as is their habit, in

wake of Western morals and culture. At so
great a distance from headquarters, and where the
the
only avenue of distinction is presented by the public

service, there is great jealousy and constant intrigue
among
officers
and
functionaries.
Independence enand arrogance, and there are
courages self-seeking
plenty of hands ready to pull the successful performer
down. Every prominent actor in Central Asian
has a host of enemies, and is fought about

a theological dogma by opposite schools. General
Annenkoff, for instance, is upheld by a clientele of
staunch partisans, but is not less sturdily denounced
politics
like
400
by an opposition
tile
clique.
For a time one of the hos-
camp, General Bazoff by name, was placed in
managing control of the earlier section of the TransCaspian Railway. The result was incessant squabbling
between the two men and to such a pitch was the
;
ill-feeling
when
carried that, at the opening ceremonies,
the rails
had been temporarily washed away by
a torrent near Kizil Arvat, Bazoff did
all in his
power
incommode and retard the progress of AnnenkoflTs
M. de Cholet also relates that in the frontier
guests.
to
a distance from the central authority,

peculation and corruption are rife. The Pristavs, or
chiefs of centres, defraud the Government by appro-
districts, at
priating part of the taxes, detection being difficult in

the absence of a regular census. 1
Bad
roods
In the humbler details of local administration, in

such matters as roads, means of communication, and
the very province in which the English
the Eussians are incurably languid and idle.
the like
excel
The roads of Central Asia, even the postal roads

and main lines of connection, have long been famous
for their execrable
in
badness.
Skobeleff, in a letter
way from Central Asia to take part

the Turkish war, wrote that, if known to Dante,
in 1877,
on
his
'
the Central Asian roads
additional horror to hell/
would have served
And
as,
an
yet, dating his letter
from Kazalinsk, he was travelling upon and was

speaking of the main postal route from Tashkent to
Samarkand, Tashkent, and Askabad were

the only places where I saw tolerable roads.
ElseOrenburg.
Voyage en Turkestan,
p. 103.
401
where they are merely cart-tracks, unmetalled, full

of ruts and holes, and deeply buried in dust. Upon
the Afghan frontier there are practically no roads at
though it is approached by two, of Bussian construction, from Karibent to Sarakhs, arid from Mcrv
all
to Takhta-Bazar.
The information which I have given about Russian

.
of education, manners, rein the wider spheres

policy
l
J
*
General
cpnclu-
Bionaast
Russian
ligion,
and morals,
will
have prepared
my
readers
for the conclusion that, while the Russian system may

fairly be described as one of government, it cannot be
described as one, to any considerable extent, of improvement or of civilisation. There seems to be

altogether lacking that moral impulse which induces
unselfish or Christian exertioii en behalf of a subject
Broad and statesmanlike schemes fb v the
people.
material development of the country, for the amelioration of the condition of the natives, for their adap-
a higher order of things, are either not

entertained, or are crushed out of existence* by the
tation
to
superior exigencies of a military regime.
Barracks,
railway stations, post and telethe necessary adjuncts of government,
forts, military roads,
graph offices,
abound but the
;
institutions or buildings that
a people's progress have yet to appear.

there
may
exist the tranquillity arising
bespeak
Hence while
from peace-
and conciliatory combination, there is not the

harmony that can result only from final coalescence.
It is, of course, true, as I have frequently reminded
ful
my
readers, that Russia has only too recently entered

any very marked results to be as
into possession for
D D
govern-
1WSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
402
yet visible ; while the opportunities afforded among a

nomad or agricultural people, where there are few cities
and no national
life,
are necessarily small.
Enough
has been done in the matter of pacification and conBut in Turkestan a

solidation to excite our respect.
twenty years' tilth and seed time might be expected to

have produced a more bountiful harvest and the
doubt is suggested whether the Russians, though they
may have the ability to conquer and the strength to
;
keep, have the genius to build a

old materials.
Attention must, however, in
Schemes
to the schemes of
ation of
he country
fabric out of
all fairness,
improvement now
new
be drawn
in course of ex,
..
of attempted execufaon O^H *- , v iiicn

AC ^lan once been made.
casual reference has
ecution, or
^ngation, plantation, and colonisation

These ineV
*- a
scale.
But in each case it must be
large
1
pre-
mised that the plans exist, so far, in

greater completeness upon paper than
anywhere else and, accord;
ingly, the account I give of

genesis in the brain of the
their
may
their
reformer, rather than
positive realisation in fact.
Later travellers
perhaps report the successful filling in of the
somewhat grandiose
irrigation
them represents
outlines.
I have described the schemes in course of

execution
for the improved
irrigation of the Merv oasis ; and*have
indicated how, by amore scientific
economyof the existing water-supply, by the construction of reservoirs in

the Persian mountains to store asudden and
unpremedi-
tated rainfall, as well as of conduits and

watercourses
to conduct it to th* rVkina fit* r^seg of Akhal
and Atek
403
may be
expected to enlarge their cultivable area.

More ambitious schemes have, however, been talked
The project has been mooted of uniting the

streams of the Murghab arid the Tejend, and even
about.
of utilising their surplus resources in order to reclaim
a portion of the Kara Kum. Those, however, who

are best acquainted with the country, and speak from
a practical knowledge of engineering, deny the feasibility of such a consummation, for the simple reason
In sumthat the surplus postulated does not exist.

mer the river-beds are sometimes quite dry; and
undoubtedly wasted by the clumsy

methods of the Turkomans, yet sufficient cannot be
spared to undertake reclamation beyond the existing
although water
is
limits of the oases
and
as the population increases,
which, under pacific rule, it rapidly will, every available drop will be required upon the spot.
Moreover,
the diversion of water into new channels through so
inveterate a wilderness is apt to turn out a very
disappointing enterprise, owing to the rapid atmospheric evaporation, and to the thirsty appetite of
the sands.
Much
the
same objection
exists,
but on a far
larger scale, to the schemes, of which a great deal

was heard at one time, for a restoration of the Oxus
omto
lts
old bed, diverging from the present main

stream in the neighbourhood of Khiva towards the
to
its
1
Sary Kamish lakes in the Ust Urt desert, and thence
1
Above the Sary Kamish lakes there are no less thatf four old
beds of the Oxus : (1) the oldest, or Unguz, beginning eighty miles
below Tcharjui, and running parallel with the modern Amu Daria to
D D2
404
by the dried-up Uzboi bed, to the Igdi wells and the

Balkan Bay in the Caspian. This idea is as old as
the time of Peter the Great,
who
sent an envoy to exto report upon the
amine the former channel, and

feasibility of the project, with a view to opening up a
new waterway
into the heart of Asia.
The construc-
Railway has to a great extent obviated the present necessity for such an undertaking while exhaustive scientific surveys have simultion of the Transcaspian
taneously demonstrated its practical infeasibility, or,

at any rate, the uuremunerative outlay of the experi-
ment,
llerr Kiepert's
famous and scornful criticism
of the project, when at the height of its favour, as

*
(he great Central Asian Sea-serpent,' though bitterly
resented at the time, has apparently survived to witThe difference of levels
ness its own justification.
between the Sary Kainish lakes and the Caspian is so

great that it is calculated that forty years would be
spent in filling the former before the idea could be
entertained of taking the overflow into the Caspian.
General Gloukhovskoe himself, who is understood to
be favourable to the scheme, has estimated the cost

Fort KabaMi, and thence westwards to the Sheikh wells
(2)
a channel
leaving the Amu Daria near Khazarasp, passing by Khiva and running
to the wells of Charishli on the Uzboi
variously known throughout
ita length as Zeikyash, Yaman Kagikyal, and Tonu or Sonu Daria ;
(3) the Doudan, starting a little to the east of the town of Khanki, and
;
hill of Man Kir and through the lakes of Tunukla to the

south-east corner of the Sary Kamish lakes ; (4) the Darialik, beginning
five miles west of Kunia Urgenj, and falling into the Sary Kamish lakes
running by the
Vide Grodekoff's War in TurJcomania,

Colonel Petrusevitch, who surveyed the last-named bed,
demonstrated the possibility of utilising it as far as the Sary Kamish
lakes, water having flowed through it thus far, when the Amu Daria
at their north-east corner.
vol.
i.
burst
chap.
its
i.
banks in 1878.

of
its
undertaking at four millions
sterling.
405
further
the desiccation that might be entailed upon

Khiva and the Amu Daria province on the right hank
is
danger
of the river, one of the most fertile portions of the

Eussian dominions. It is improbable, therefore, un-
Oxus repeats its penunbulatory humours of

the past, which it shows no immediate likelihood of
less the
doing, that any artificial attempt to alter

will
direction
its
be made in our time.
Plantation has been resorted to in

.
parts, as
many
have shown, in the inboth of improved fertilisation of the soil, and

an increase of moisture in the climate. The branch
allusions in previous chapters

terest
of industry, however, from which Eussia, with probable justice, expects the greatest return, is that of
cotton plantation, which, after a long apathy, is (if

official reports are to be relied upon) being vigor-
ously pursued both on the banks of the Amu Daria

and in Turkestan. American seed has been imported
into the country
American
scientific
methods and
appliances have been studied and in observance of

the commercial policy which I have more than
;
once sketched, an American company that applied

for a concession met with a peremptory refusal, the
Eussians intending to keep an absolute monopoly
of the industry, both growth and export, in their own
General Annenkoff, in the paper on the

Commercial Importance of the Transcaspiari Eailway,
from which I have before quoted, gave the figures of
hands.
the present produce

follows
:
of cotton in Central Asia as
Cotton
plan tut ion
406
Bokhara
Khiva
Khokand
Amu
Daria
....
Total
2,000,000 ponds
500,000
800,000
500,000
3,300,000
and those of the exports of cotton vid Orenburg before

the construction of the railway as
1888
1884
1885
603,000 pouds
626,000
668,000
The book which he is understood to be about to publish

upon the railway will no doubt contain more recent
statistics.
So
far the fertility of the Central
Asian
cotton-seed has not been developed to anything like

One poud(36
the same extent as its American rival.
Ibs.)
of the former in
its
impure
state yields only 9 Ibs.
of pure material while the corresponding amount of

American seed produces 15 Ibs. One desiatine (i.e. 2^
;
acres) of land in Central Asia will give from 12 to 14

pouds of pure cotton ; the same area in America will
The present annual requirements

give from 22 to 30.
of Russia are stated at about 8,000,000 pouds of cotton,
which she imports from Egypt, India, and America,
at an average price of 11 roubles (22s.) a poud.
General Annenkoff, as I have previously mentioned,
claims to be able to offer his railroad-borne cotton
from Central Asia in the market of Moscow at 6^

With the united supply of Merv,
Bokhara, Ferghana, and Khokand, Eussia expects to
roubles a poud.
be entirely self-supporting in another decade.
Of the rapid extension of the industry

1
pond = 86 English
Ibs.
62 ponds = 1 ton.
in Central

Asia, the following figures will give
some
407
In
idea.
1884, only 750 acres in Turkestan were devoted to

In 1886 the area
the plantation of American cotton.
was 30,000
acres,
and
for the first time
an annual
meeting of planters was held at Tashkent. In 1886

the export from Central Asia, mainly by the TransCaspian Railway, though at that time carried no further than Merv, was 55,000 bales of 100 kilogrammes
(220
Ibs.) each.
In 1887
the
was reckoned
total
at 120,000-200,000 such bales; in 1888 the area

under cultivation was 87,500 acres in Turkestan,
and the
follows
total export
St.
bales,
made up
as
From
of
was 521,000
the latest report
(for
1888) of the trade
Petersburg and Consular District, I derive the
following
The consumption in Russia of cotton grown in Bokhara,

Khiva, and Khokand is steadily increasing although as at
;
present produced, the great bulk of these cottons is not suitable for spinning the finer number of yarn most in demand.
The
staple, as a rule, is
both short and irregular, the fibre
rather dry and weak, and the cotton imperfectly cleaned.
Among other industries
pursued or attempted on a
considerable scale, and susceptible of great expan1
No, 564 of the Annual Series of Foreign Office Reports, 1889.
sericulture
culture
408
sion, in the Central
Asian dominions of Russia, are
the production of silk and of wine, and the growth of

lire. Out of 800,000*. worth of raw silk, and 200,OOOJ.
worth of spun silk, annually consumed by Russia,

only from 30,00(W. to 60,000/. worth come from
Central Asia
and there
is
therefore an
excellent
opening
During the last
few years, however, the industry, owing to the widespread existence of disease among the silkworms, has
for enlarged production.
been on the decline; the returns of the market of

Khojent showing a fall from 30,000 ponds of cocoons
sold in
pouds sold in 1888

Establishments have been founded for the
1885 for
for 5,OOOJ.
30,0001., to 4,000
examination of the eggs, with a view to the eradication of the disease; and fresh supplies of eggs are
now being imported from other silk-growing

The culture of the vine
countries.
largely practised, under the

most favourable conditions of soil and climate, by the
natives,
is
who manufacture
a very superior beverage.
With due care and with improved methods, Turkestan

may be made to supply the entire needs in this respect
of Siberia, as well as of Central Asia.
a great deal
is
grown, none has
ported to European Kussia.
Railway
will
HOW encourage
till
Of rice, though
lately
been ex-
But the Transcaspian
the growth
by facilitating
the exportation.
Lastly I
tion,
come
to the Russian projects of colonisa-
which again look exceedingly well on paper, but
as regards fulfilment are as yet very much in the air.

The banks of the
Daria and the Oasis of Merv
Amu
are
the regions to which the emigrant
is
specially
RUSSIAN RULE IX CENTRAL ASIA

invited
409
and quite recently General Annenkoff,
in
lecture before the Imperial Geographical Society of
Petersburg, drew a pretty comparison between

the settlements on the Yellow China Eiver, and the
St.
future Eussian colonies on the Oxus.
There
is
this
fundamental difference between the two, that the

Chinese colonists are Chinamen, while the Eussian
colonists are to
be Eussian,
or, in other
words, that the
one are indigenous, while the others will be aliens. It

cannot be said that the Eussians have anywhere in Asia
as yet attained
much
success as colonists.
In the
they commenced the experiment in

1875 of the free settling of peasants, the planting of
Syr Daria
district
Crown
colonies at fixed points having already proved

few villages were founded in
a complete failure.
the ensuing years but until 1884 the progress was

very slow. In 1885 there were reported to be eight
;
peasant settlements, and four colonies of German

Memnonites, with 514 families, and about 2,500
In 1886 six more Eussian villages were

established, with 324 families, extending over the
persons.
two neighbouring
districts.
These are the latest
procurable figures.
The very
taste for
nomad
life
which
their constant
migrations have shown really disqualifies the Eussians

for the sedentary and laborious existence of the settler.
roam away from home upon

pretext, or upon the breath of some faint
Whole communities
the slightest
will
rumour touching the rich gardens of Turkestan or
the prolific harvests of Merv.

story is related of
a well-to-do colonist who wandered south from Siberia,
410
abandoning an excellent farm, simply because he had

heard that a certain weed, by which his holding was
troubled, ceased to grow beyond a particular limit.
The Government of the Steppe to the north-east of
Turkestan, and more especially the province of Semirechinsk, or the
Land of
the Seven Streams, have
hitherto been the chief scene of Eussian colonisation.
where the process commenced in 1854,

But the
there are said to be over 80,000 colonists.
In the
latter,
emigrants, who were mainly Cossacks of rude habits

and unsettled life (the Eussian Minister of Agriculture
described them in a report as a coarse and almost
savage band, addicted to idleness, intoxication, theft,

and vice), or peasants from Siberia, driven southwards
by
the cold, appear to have been thoroughly unsatis-
factory ; while Chinese competition from the neighbouring province of Hi and from Chinese Turkestan, particularly that of the
Dungans or Chinese Mahometans,
and Taranchis or Turki Mahometans, has proved a

The natives, who, like all Chinaserious hindrance.
men, consume
less
food and
work
for less
wages than
any other people in the world, lower the price of

agricultural produce, and derive a further advantage
from their intimate knowledge of the local systems of
Disgust overtakes the discomfited Euroirrigation.
pean he packs up his goods and chattels, and beFurther east, in the
comes a vagrant once more.
Russian province of Manchuria along the Amoor
;
Eiver, Chinese competition has proved so formidable

that the Government has felt called upon to interfere.
In the Pri-Amoorski district there were reported in

1888 to be 40,000 Asiatic
aliens
411
in the Ussuri dis-
The Eussian Governor-General in his

The Manchurians
last report included these words
form an element which is dangerous to the interests
trict
14,000.
"
of our Eussian colonists, as

dustry, endurance,
and
by
their intelligence, in-
frugality, competition of
any
foreign labour system whatever with theirs is prevented/ To restrict this influx and the consequent
was proposed that the Eussian Government should lay a special capitation or income tax
fall in prices, it
upon all Chinese and Koreans in Eussian territory,

and in the scheme of universal taxation should allow
an exemption to naturalised Eussian subjects and
Eussian traders.
These incidents will show that Eussian colonisation in Central Asia
is
not such smooth sailing as
might be expected; and that projects, however brave,

may be widely removed from reality. General Annenkoff in his lecture recommended the following
steps as the prelude to more successful ventures
:
improved and extended irrigation
the circulation of
maps with spots adapted to settlement distinguished

upon them the institution of model farms and agri;
cultural schools in order to create a supply of com-
petent managers and overseers and the collection of

models of appliances used in America for the cultiva;
tion of cotton.
Nevertheless there do not exist in
Central Asia the insuperable obstacles of climate and
surroundings that have rendered British colonies in

India an impossibility, and have thereby deprived the
English of this most potent instrument of assimilation
412
Amu
and the
Daria fringe
may one day be
peopled
with untidy long-haired Moujiks, and dotted over
with pine-log huts.
ofOreat
Britain
1
Such, so far as I have been able to ascertain them,
are Russia's position and prospects, her virtues and
.
in
failings,
her recently
acquired
Central
Asian
Englishmen may regard her presence

there with equanimity and watch her progress with
dominions.
friendly interest. They may compare her doings north

of the Hindu Kush and Himalayas with their own to
the south, and
perhaps derive some lessons, or

imbibe some warnings from the contrast. They need
may
grudge Russia none of her triumphs, nor be
by national jealousy or by
led, either
possible antagonism in the
future, into competition with her in a field
which
Let no Englishtheir own hands are too full to enter.

man be found repeating the infatuated nonsense that
has sometimes found
its
way
into print in
magazine
about turning Russia out of Central Asia, or
sweeping her from the Khanates. She is not to be
articles,
evicted
and of
all
peoples
we
are the last to supply
the crowbar brigade.

The limits to British dominions
Asia are fixed by natural conditions, which
in Central
we should be
insane to ignore or overleap, and

which sever us, as by oceans, from Tartar prairies
Turkoman
or
steppes.
The inheritance of these
lands, with their historic past, their sordid present,

I have made repeated applications to Russian official quarters for
further information, both in figures and in facts ; but entirely without
success. If the Bussians are anywhere misrepresented or misunder1
stood in foreign countries, it is commonly their own fault ; for they

qtupidly refuse the sole means of correction or substantiation.

and the mysterious
413
possibilities of their future,
has
devolved upon a race yet young among nations,

endowed with surpassing vitality, and destined to
At
greatness.
least let us
wish her God-speed in the
undertaking.
be borne in mind, however, and by none

more than the Russians themselves, that if the future
Let
it
of these regions is in their own hands, upon their

So far
shoulders rests a proportionate responsibility.
everything has been easy enough.
Armies have
col-
lapsed the conquered have been pacified opposition

has vanished order has been assured. The scarcely
formulated ambitions of Peter the Great have been
;
realised,
and have been multiplied
a,
hundredfold in
new continent lias been

the process of realisation.
usurped, and a mighty empire has been won. But,
Duke
of Wellington remarked to Lord Auckland in 1839, 'In Asia, where victories cease difficulas the
ties begin.'
Demolition has been simple
for constructive ability
is
now made.
but a
Russia
call
is
re-
quired to build a new edifice upon the old foundations, to lift a people from the sloth of centuries,
and to teach them the worth of manhood. The inveterate walkers in darkness have seen a great light.
They are entitled to share the warmth of its illumination.
Means of regeneration
exist in abundance.
railway built for purposes of war ought in proper

hands to become a security for peace.
few crumbling Khanates alone rejnain as an expiring relic of the
past, which, with all its pageantry
shrivelling
up
like
and
its
horrors,
is
a parchment scroll beneath the
e BP n81 -
Russia
4U
action of
as a
clear,
fire,
and
memento
and no
will only leave its charred remains
for another generation.
rival threatens.
The
field is
If Eussian brains
can
only estimate the sense of duty, or even of ulterior

profit, at a little higher price than ephemeral vainglory, and if Eussian hands can desist from flying
at the least breath of suspicion to the hilts of their
swords, there
is
no reason why a future of
benefi-
cence and even of splendour should not await the

Central Asian dominions of the Czar.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
TABLE OF STATIONS AND DISTANCES ON THE
TEANSCASPIAN RAILWAY,
,
v
a ,.
Name of. Station
.
1.
Uzun Ada
2.
Michaelovsk
3.
MollaKari
4.
Bala Ishein
Aidin
5.
6.
Pereval
7.
Akcha Kuma
8.
Kazanjik
9.
Uzun Su
10.
Ushak
11. Kizil
Arvat
12.
Kodj
13.
Bahmi
Artchman
14.
15.
1C.
17.
18.
19.
Suntcha
Bacharden
Kelata
Geok Tepe
Bezmein
21.
Askabad
Gyaurs
22.
Aksu
20.
1889
Distance in Versts
(two-thirds of a mile)
......
26
48
82
112
127
143
174
190
213
243
270
294
324
343
354
381
406
428
448
480
497
416
VT
Name
Distance in Versts
(two-thirds of a mile)
A~
of Station
28.
Takir
518
536
568
586
607
627
29.
Tejend
651
30.
GeokSeour
673
698
723
746
770
796
813
23.
Baba Durmaz
24. Artik
25.
Kaakha
26.
Annan
27.
Dushak
Sagait
31. Jujukli
32. DortKuyu
33.
Karibata
34.
Merv
35.
Bairam All
36.
KurbanKala
37. Keltchi
831
38.
Ravnina
39.
Uch
853
872
41.
Bepetek
901
931
42.
KaraulKuyu
Adji
40. Peski
43. Barchani
44. Tcharjui
Daria
45.
Amu
954
976
989
998
46.
Farab
1,002
47.
Kadji Devlet
1,023
48.
Kara Kul
1,042
49.
Yakatat
1,066
50.
Murgak
1,084
51.
Bokhara
Kuyu Mazar
1,107
52.
53. Kizil
1,131
1,147
54.
Tepe
Malik
55.
Kermine
1,193
,56.
Ziadin
1,169
1,217
Tugai Robat
58. Katta Kurgan
1,242
59.
1,293
57.
Nagornaya
1,269
60.
Juma
1,319
61.
Samarkand
1,343
417
APPENDIX
TI
TARLE OF DISTANCES IN CENTRAL ASIA

THK sources from which the following table has been compiled are
scattered in a great number of works, aiid it may claim, I believe,
Where I have found
to be the first published attempt of its kind.
an
of
has been made
endeavour
distance,
conflicting computations
to determine the more trustworthy estimate, though, in a country
where routes are not clearly marked, and where space is measured,
not by mile-posts, but by marches, absolute precision is scarcely to
be procured. Where places are connected by rail, the distance has
been reckoned by the line, and not by road. In the selection of

cases for mention, any compiler must lay himself open to the charge
of arbitrary choice.
object has been to give the figures of
distance between such places as are likely to have an important
My
bearing upon the future development of the Central Asian Question,

more particularly such places as are on the main lines of Russian or
I can certify, from my own experience, how
may be retarded in the effort to comprehend a
strategical argument or position by the absence of such knowledge,
and what a wonderful aid to understanding is the fortunate accident
British advance.
seriously a student
of its possession.
Miles
Alexandretta to Grain (Persian Gulf)
Andkui
to
Balkh
Bosaga (Oxus)
Maimeiia
Maruchak
Askabad to Dushak
Herat
Khiva
........
920
100
60
80
'.180
'106
368
.280
Kuchan
Merv
70
215
168
Meshed
E K
418
Miles
Askabad
to Barakhs
Astrabad to Bnjnurd
Herat
Kuchari
Meshed
Shahrud
Balkh to Bamian
Bosaga
Herat
Kabul
.........
Kilif (Oxus)
Bokhara
to
Balkh
Karshi
Khiva (by
steppe)
(vtd Tcharjui)
Kilif
Maimena*
Samarkand
.150
Tcharjui
Khan to Quctta
Dera Ismail Khan to Ghuzni
l)era Ghazi
(old
Gomul
Pass)
Kandahar
Herat to Bamian
Farrah
Girishk
Kabul (vld Daulatyar)

Kandahar
Quetta
Hibi
Kabul
to Balkh
Bamian
........
....
Kandahar
Peshawur
Kandahar to Dera Ismail Khan (Indus)
Herat
Kabul
Tcharjui
...
500
100
328
180
340
389
328
..144
Quetta
Kerki to Karshi
Kilif
70
295
250
340
390
155
314
500
389
533
630
330
.110
Herat
Jellalabad
198
200
557
267
347
60
220
80
370
330
50
276
86
280
330
226
350
80
'.
.100
140
TABLE OF DISTANCES
419
Miles
Khiva
to
Askabad
280
676
306
472
330
543
Fort Alexandrovsk (Caspian)

Fort Perovski (Syr Daria)
Jizak
Kazalinsk (Syr Daria)
Kindarli Bay (Caspian)
Kizil Arvat
Krasnovodsk (by Sary Kainish Lakes)
.
,,
Merv
Orenburg (by steppe)
,,
.315
533
350
866
996
......
(vid Kazalinsk)
Kizil
Arvat
to
Ask bad
,1
.136
Geok Tepe
108
220
212
Tchikishliar
Kohat to Kabul (vid Kuruui Valley)

Krasnovodsk to Fort Alexandrovsk
Khiva
.412
533
249
65
147
299
690
80
100
273
350
133
94
155
168
230
98
90
100
82
172
.........
....
........
........
Tchikishliar
Kuhsan
to
Herat
Sarakhs
Kungrad to Mertvi Kultuk Bay (Caspian)
Kurrachi to Chaman
Maimena
to
Andkui
Bala Murghab
Merv
to
Herat
Khiva
.'
Penjdeh
Sarakhs
Tcharjui
Meshed
to
Askabad
Herat
Kuchan
........
Pul-i-Khatun
Sarakhs
Mohammerah (Karun
River) to
Ahwaz
.....
Bizful
Ispahan
Shustar
Orenburg
to
Teheran
Bokhara (by steppe)
(vid Tashkent and Samarkand)
Khiva (by steppe)
.
.411
.136
621
.1146
.
'.
1628
866
E E 2
420
Orenburg
.....
.....
........
Khiva (md Kazalinsk)
to
Kazalinsk (Syr Daria)
........
.......
.........
........
.........
Samarkand
Tashkent
Penjdeh to Bala Murghab
Herat
,.
Quetta to
Maruchak
Merv
Dera Ghozi Khan (Indus)
T)
99
Herat
Kandahar
Sibi
Kabul
Karshi
Tashkent
Sarakhs to Kuhsan
Herat
Pul-i-Khatun
to
Khojent
Khokand
Orenburg
Samarkand
Bokhara
Kerki
Khiva (by Oxus)
Teheran to Astrabad
Tcharjui to
Bushire
Ispahan
Meshed
Shiraz
Uzun Ada
to
996
667
1478
1291
46
140
28
133
260
295
533
144
100,
Teheran
Samarkand to Balkh
Bokhara
llesht to
Tashkent
(vid llurnai)
Miles
'
Askabad
KizilArvat
Merv
Oxus
Samarkand
210
300
150
630
113
190
147
170
40
95
177
1291
190
80
140
260
240
780
280
550
600
300
162
513
665
895
421
APPENDIX
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN CENTRAL
ASIA,
1800-1889
I
HAVE compiled the following chronology, not without considerable
So far as I know, there is

research, from a wide variety of sources.
only one other chronological table in existence relating to the same
question, viz. that at the end of the first volume of Dr. Lansd ell's
*
Russian Central Asia/ Dr. Lansdell's list, however, being restricted
to the record of Russian advance in Central Asia, contains no dates
Afghan or Persian history, nor any mention of the dealings of
of
England and Russia with either
Neither in its
sometimes
diffuse
in recording
being
elsewhere omits relatively important
facts of no
incidents.
My own compilation is no doubt susceptible of vast
improvement, but, within its limits, aspires to be a fairly adequate
record of English and Russian movements in the regions described
dates connected with outin the foregoing volume as Central Asia
of those countries.
own department
is it perfect,
moment, while it
lying countries or history being only introduced here and there,

where they are correlative to the main chain of events. The subjoined list is brought up to the autumn of the present year, or a period
five years later than Dr. Lansdell's catalogue.
First British mission (of Captain Malcolm), and treaty with
Persia
Proposed invasion of
India
,1800
Napoleon
The Turkomans
....
of Mangishlak appeal to be
subjects, but subsequently revolt
War between Russia and Persia

Accession of Mohammed Rahim Khan
Scheme
of Indian invasion
Napoleon
1800
by the Emperors Paul and
made Russian
of Khiva
by the Emperors, Alexander and
.
....
First treaty between France and Persia

Second and abortive mission of Malcolm to Persia
1800
1802-6
1806
1807
1807
1808
422
March 1809
Hecond treaty between Great Britain and Persia
1812
Russian administration introduced into the Kirghiz steppes
and
Persia
which
between
Russia
of
Gulistan
(by
Treaty
Russia gained Jiiicritia, Mingrelia, Daghestan, KaraOct. 1813
hagh, Derbent, Baku, Shirvan, and Ganjeh)
Nov. 1814
Treaty of Teheran between Great Britain and Persia
.1819
Mission of Ponoinari-fF to the Turkomans
1819
Visit of Mouravieff to Khiva
1821
Mission of M. de Negri to Bokhara
.1821
Surveys of the East Caspian by Mou ravieff
1824
First Russian caravan to Bokhara
Moorcroft and Trebeck \isit Bokhara, and die on their return
1825
through \fghan Turkestan
1826
Accession of Nasrullah, Amir of Bokhara
1826
Allah Kuli Khmi of Khiva
1826
Dost Mohammed, Amir of Afghanistan
1826
Mission of Menzikolf to Teheran
1826-8
Wnr renewed between Russia and Persia
Oct. 1827
Krivan captured by Paskievitch
Treaty of Turkomanchai between Russia and Persia (by
Feb. 1828
which Russia gained Erivan and Nakhchivan)
which
between
Russia
and
of
Turkey (by
Adrianople
Treaty
1829
Russia gained Poti, etc.)
1829
Captain A. Conolly's overland journey to India
circ. 1830
Tekke Turkomans appear in the Merv country
1831
Dr. Wolffs first journey to Merv and Bokhara
Lieutenant A\ Burnes* journey to Kabul, Bokhara, Merv,
and Meshed
1832
Unsuccessful Persian expedition against Herat
1833
Death of Futteh AH and accession of Mohammed Shah in
1834
Persia
Fort Novo-Alexandrovsk established by Perovski on eastern
shore of the Caspian
1834
Russian mission of Denmison to Bokhara
1834
.
.....
.
....
....
.....
.......
....
..........
Vitkievitch
Trading expeditions of Karelin
mans
.1835
and Blaramherg to the Turko-
Persia, instigated by Russia, marches against Herat

Siege of Herat and defence by Eld red Pottinger
Mission of Burnes to Kabul

Russian agent Vitkievitch at Kabul
1836
1837
Nov. 1837 to June 1838

Sept. 1837
Dec. 1837
....
423
Stoddart sent as British envoy from Teheran to Bokhara

Wood explores the Upper Oxus to Lake Sir-i-kul
1838
1838
1838
June 1838
Nov. 1838
1839
April 1839
.
......
.......
....
......
Karrack
between
England and Shah Suja
Treaty
Beginning of first Afghan war
British occupation of
Unsuccessful expedition of Perovski against Khiva
Capture of Kandahar
Capture of Kabul, flight of
of Shah Suja
Dost Mohammed, and restoration

Aug. 1839
Nov. 1839
First British expedition into Kelat
Mohammed
Dost
of
Sept. 1840
Rising
Defeat and surrender of Dost Mohammed
Nov. 1840
1840
Mission of Abbott, Shakespear, and Conolly to Khiva
1841
Mission of Bouteneft', Khanikoff, and Lehman ri to Bokhara
,
Mission of Conolly to Khokaml

First treaty between Great Britain and Kelat
Treaty between Great Britain and Persia
Naval station of Ashurada occupied by Russia
Assassiiiatioii of Sir A. Burnes at Kabul
.
.1841
.
1841
.1841
1841
Nov. 1841
Dec. 1841
Murder of Sir W. Macnaghten at Kabul
Dec. 1841 to Jan. 1842
Siege of British forces in Kabul
Jan. 1842
Retreat and massacre of British army
Feb. 1842
Arrival of Lord Ellenborough in India
Advance of British relief column under Gen. Pollock
April 1842
June 1842
Execution of Stoddart and Conolly at Bokhara
March of Gen. Nott from Kandahar to Kabul
Aug. to Sept. 1842
General Pollock re-enters Kabul
Sept. 1842
Evacuation of Afghanistan
Oct. 1842
Dost Mohammed restored to throne
1842
First treaty (concluded by Danilevski) between Russia and
Khiva
1842
1843
Second journey of Dr. Wolff to Bokhara
1843
Visit of Taylour- Thomson to Merv and Khiva
Anglo-Russian agreement between the Emperor Nicholas
and Lord Aberdeen
1844
.
....
.....
......
....
.
.......
.....
Accession of Khudayar Khan of Khokand

Submission of Great Horde of Kirghiz
Abandonment
.1844
1844
Novo-Alexandrovsk in favour of Fort

Novo-Petrovsk (afterwards in 1857 christened Fort
of Fort
Alexandrovsk)
Treaty of Erzeroum between Turkey and Persia
First Russian fort built at Aralsk, on the Aral Sea
.
1846
.
.1847
1848
424
.....
1848
of the Aral flotilla
Accession of Nasr-ed-din, Shah of Persia
Sept. 1848
1849
Fort No. 1, or Kazala, built on the Syr Daria
.1851
Convention between Great Britain and Persia
1852
Reconnaissance by Blaramberg against Ak Musjid
Ak Musjid, on Syr Daria, captured by the Russians and made
1853
FortPerovski
1853
Anglo-Persian convention concerning Herat
1854
The Russians establish a military station at Fort Verny
1854
Second treaty between Great Britain and Kelat
First treaty between Great Britain and Dost Mohammed
March 1855
Oct. 1856
Surrender of Herat to the Persians
Second treaty between Great Britain and Dost Mohammed
Jan. 1857
War between Great Britain and Persia Nov. 1856 to March 1857
March 1857
Treaty of Paris between Great Britain and Persia
Accession of Khudadad Khan of Kelat
1857
Tekke Turkomans expel Sariks and occupy Merv
1857
Indian Mutiny
1857-8
Mission of Ignatieff to Khiva and Bokhara
1858
Russian mission of KhanikofF to Herat
1858
the
Turkomans
Dandevil
of
1859
against
Expedition
Government of India transferred from the East India Com1859
pany to the Crown
Accession of Mozaffur-ed-din, Amir of Bokhara
1860
1860
Treaty of Pekin between Russia and China
The Russians recommence military operations in Central
Asia
1860
ifereian expedition against Merv repulsed by the Tekkes
1861
Death of Dost Mohammed
June 1863
and
of
A.
to
Samarkand
1863
Voyage
VamWry Khiva, Bokhara,
Ovorlund telegraphic convention between England, Turkey,
and Persia
1863
Capture of Aulieata and Hazret by the Russians
July 1864
Oct. 1864
Storming of Tchitnkent by Tchernaieff
Circular of Prince Gortchakoff
Nov. 1864
Accession of Seid Mohammed Rahim Khan of Khiva
1865
Formation of Turkestan province
Feb. 1865
June 1865
Storming of Tashkent by Tchernaieff
Yakub Beg captures Kashgar
1865
1866
Tchernaieff replaced by Romanovski
Commencement
....
....
....
....
.
.......
....
.
-.
....
....
.
425
....
Defeat of Bokharan army at Irjar

Capture of Khojent (May), Ura Tepe, and Jizak
Yakub Beg
May
1866
......
......
...,<.
.
Oct. 1866
Yarkand
1866
Sept. 1 867
Capture of Samarkand
May 1868
Final defeat of Bokharan army
June 1 868
Annexation of Zerafshan province by Russia
Nov. 1868
1868
First treaty between Russia and Bokhara
1863-8
Civil war in Afghanistan
Final triumph of Shir AH Khan
Jan. 1869
Khan
to
Abdurrahman
Samarkand
of
1869
Flight
Umballa Conference between Lord Mayo and Shir Ali. March 1K69
First overtures from Lord Clarendon to Prince GortchakofF
about Afghanistan
1869
Occupation of Krasnovodsk, on the east shore of the Caspian,
Nov. 1869
by Stolietoff
1870
Karshi and Shahri Sebz restored by Russia to Bokhara
Kari
the
and
Molla
Russians
Michaelovsk
of
1870
by
Occupation
First expedition against the Turkomans to Kizil Arvat
1870
July 1871
Occupation of Kulja by the Russians
Reconnaissances of Markozoff to Sary Kamish Lakes and on
1871
the Atrek
.1871
Russian fort erected at Tchikishliar
1872
Second Russian reconnaissance to Kizil Arvat and Bahmi
captures
Formation of Government of Turkestan under Kaufmann

.
.......
....
.
Gortchakoff-Graiiville
istan
Agreement
as to boundaries of AfghanOct. 1872
....
......
.......
.....
Captain Marsh's ride through Khorasan
1872
1872
Commission
Boundary
.1872
Persian Railway Concession to Baron de Reuter
Russian treaty with Yakub Beg and recognition of independence of Kashgar
1872
1873
Russian expedition against Khiva
May 1873
Capture of Khiva
Annexation of Amu-Daria province by Russia
Aug. 1873
,,1873
Treaty between Russia and Khiva
1873
Fortress of Koushid Khan Kala begun by the Merv Tekkes
Oct. 1873
Second treaty between Russia and Bokhara
First visit of the Shah to Europe, April to September
1873
of
and
Colonel
in
Turkomania
Valentine
Baker
Journey
Khorasan
1873
Formation of military district of Transcaspia sub General
Lomakin
April 1874
Seistaii
426
Journey of Col. Ch. MacGregor

Capt. Burnaby'g ride to Khiva
Rebellion in
Nur Verdi
in
Khorasan
1875
1875
1875
Khokand
elected
Khan
of
1875-
Akhal
Annexation of Khokand and formation of Russian province

Feb. 1876
of Ferghana
to
Lob
Nor
1876
of
Prjevalski
Expedition
Treaty of Jacobabad between Great Britain and Kelat. Dec. 1876
1877
Third Russian expedition to, and retreat from, Kizil Arvat
1877
Defeat and death of Yakub Beg
Abortive conference at Peshawur between Sir L. Pelly and
Feb. 1877
Nur Mahomet Shah
Death of Koushid Khan of Merv, and election of Nur Verdi
1878
Khan of Akhal
Kaufiuanu threatens invasion of Afghanistan and India June 1878
Pamir column despatched under General Abramoff
1878
Arrival of Stolietoft' mission at Kabul
July 1878
Russian fort built at Chat, on the Atrek
Aug. 1878
Second visit of the Shah to Europe
1878
British envoy turned back from Khyber Pass
Sept. 1878
Colonel GrodekofFs ride from Samarkand to Herat
Oct. to Nov. 1878
Second Afghan war begun
Nov. 1878
Dec. 1878
Flight of Shir AH
Death of Shir Ali and accession of Yakub Khan
Feb. 1879
Treaty of Gundamuk with Yakub Khan
May 1879
Assassination, of Sir L. Cavagnari at Kabul
Sept. 1879
Third Afghan war begun
1879
.
....
.
.....
.....
.
Defeat of Lomakin by the Turkomans

Oct.
Reoecupation of Kabul
Yakub Khan deported to India
Dec,
Skoboleff appointed Commander-in-Chief in Transcaspia Mar.
Death of Nur Verdi Khan of Akhal and Merv, and election
of Makdum Kuli Khan
May
........
Skobeleff lands at Krasnovodsk
Bah mi occupied
June
Recognition of Abdurrahman Khan as Amir
July
Disaster of Mai wand
March of Sir F. Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar. Aug. 8-31,
Battle of Kandahar
Sept. 1,
First reconnaissance of Geok Tepe
July
Commencement of the Traiiscaspiau Railway
.
....
.
187$
1879
1879
1880
1880
1880
1880
1880
1880
1880
1880
1880
1880
Colonel Stewart on the
427
....
....
.......
Turkoman
frontier
Storming of Geok Tepe by Skobeleff

Occupation of Askabad
1880
Jan. 1881
1881
Mar. to July 1881

O'Donovan at Merv
Evacuation of Kandahar
April 1881
Formation of Transcaspian Province sub General Rohrberg
May
Annexation of Akhal-Tekke
oasis
Transcaspian Railway opened to Kizil Arvat

Frontier convention between Russia and Persia
Visit of Alikhanoff in disguise to Merv.
Surveys of Lessar
Retrocession of Tli province and Kulja to China
Quetta District handed over on a rent to the British
Formation of the Government of the Steppe.
Tchernaieff appointed Governor-General of Turkestan
.
1881
,,1881
Dec. 1881
,,1881
Feb. 1882
1882-1883
.1 882
1882
1882
1882
1882
to
Baku
of
Tiflis
Traiiscaucasian
Railway,
Completion
1883
Tiflis to Batoum
Oct. 1883
Occupation by Russia of Tejend oasis
1883
Quetta District ceded to Great Britain
1883
Khan
Abdurrahman
and
Roshaii
Shignan
occupied by
1883
Komaroff appointed Governor-General of Transcaspia
Feb. 1884
Annexation of Merv
April 1884
Occupation of Sarakhs
1884
Frontier negotiations between Great Britain and Russia
.1884
Recommencement of Quetta Railway
1884
Recall of Tchernaieff and appointment of Rosenbach
Sir P. Lumsden sent as British Boundary Commissioner. Oct. 1884
1884
The Russians occupy Pul-i-Khatun
The Russians occupy Zulfikar and Akrobat, and advance upon
Feb. 1885
Penjdeh
on
at
and
the
Russians
between
Tash-Kepri,
Afghans
Fight
Mar. 30, 1885
the Kushk
Rawul Pindi conference between Lord Dufferin and Abdurrahman Khan
April 1885
1885
War scare in Great Britain
Sir P. Lumsden recalled
May 1885
June 1885
Transcaspian Railway resumed
Nov. 1885
Accession of Seid Abdul Ahad, Amir of Bokhara
1885
British and Russian Boundary Commissioners meet again
1886
Annexation of Batoum
188G
Bolan Railway constructed to Quetta
.
....
.....
.......
.
.......
.....
.......
.
ItUSSIA
428
IN CENTRAL ASIA
Demarcation of Afghan boundary up to separation of Commission
Kabul to India.
Return
of British Commission through

Occupation of Kerki by Russia
Sept. 1886
Oct. 1886
May
Negotiations at St. Petersburg continued and concluded July

Final settlement and demarcation of Afghan frontier Winter
Surrender of Ayub Khan to the British, and detention in
India
Jan.
Quetta Railway continued to Kila Abdulla
Tunnel commenced through the Amran Mountains
Transcaspiun Railway reaches Samarkand
May
Revolt of Is-hak Khan against Abdurrahman Khan
.
Khan
to
War
Oxus boundary
Convention between Russia and Persia
Third visit of the Shah to Europe
scare on the
1887
1888
1888
1888
July to Sept. 1888

1888
Oct. 1888
Samarkand
Karun River concession by Persia to England
Concession to Baron de Reuter for Imperial Bank
Retreat of Is-hak
1887
188T
1887
of Persia
Jan. 1889
Feb. to Mar. 1889
May
Mar. 1889
to Oct. 1889
429
APPENDIX IV
DIRECTIONS TO TRAVELLERS IN TRANSCASPIA
IN Chapter I. I have indicated the various direct routes to the
train leaves Batouin every morning
Caucasus and the Caspian.
and Tiflis every night for Baku, which is reached the next afternoon.
The steamers of the Caucasus and Mercury Company sail for Uzun
Ada twice a week, returning also twice a week. The distance,
duration, and cost of journey from Uzun Ada to Samarkand I have
mentioned in Chapter II.
The most favourable seasons of the year for making a journey
In the summer tho
into Central Asia are the spring and autumn.
In the winter it is icy cold ; tho railclimate is inordinately hot.
way may be blocked, and the harbours are frequently frozen.
Accommodation in Transcaspia and Turkestan is scanty and
There are so-called hotels at Askabad, Merv, and
miserable.
Samarkand, but they would be called hotels nowhere else. Travellers
must take with them sheets, pillows, blankets, towels, and baths.
They will find none in the country. It is possible, however, to
sleep in the railway carriages, and where feasible they should always
be preferred.
Clothing must be taken adapted to both extremes of temperature ; for it is often very hot in the daytime and very cold at night.
For an Englishman a pith helmet, similar to those worn in India, is
a useful protection, but does not seem to be affected by the Russians*
The latter wear the universal flat white cap, with cotton crown. It
can be bought at Tiflis, Baku, or anywhere in Russian territory,
and is the most serviceable and least conspicuous headpiece that can
be worn, the more so as the calico covering is removable and can be
washed. Riding-breeches and boots are useful for extended journeys
or hard work in the interior ; and to those unaccustomed to Cossack
or native saddles an English saddle is a necessity.
To Englishmen the language is a great stumbling-block. English
French and German are not
is an extreme rarity in Transcaspia.
430
It
USSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA
spoken except by Russian officers of the higher class. The languages

required are Russian for use with the Russians, and Persian or
Tartar (Turki) for the natives. It is well worth while picking up a
little Russian beforehand in order to make oneself understood by
the former. With the natives an interpreter or dragoman is simply
and a man should be engaged at Tiflis or elsewhere
indispensable
who can show testimonials of ability to speak the languages, and of
travelling experience in the countries to be traversed.
The cost of travelling and living is absurdly cheap, and estimates
framed on European standards may be halved.
There is a native copper and silver currency at Bokhara. Everywhere else, and at Bokhara also, the paper rouble is the staple
imnlium of exchange. London bankers have no correspondents in
Central Asia, but notes or letters of credit can be cashed at Tiflis,
and Russian paper money is changeable everywhere.
Along the railway very respectable food can be procured at the
The same applies to the large towns. For any excursion
buffets.
or deviation from the beaten track a prior supply is a sine qud non,
and no harm is done by laying in a stock of tinned meats, preserves,
chocolate, <fec. at Tiflis or Baku.
It is a cardinal rule to avoid the drinking water of the country.
Passable wine from the Caucasus arid Samarkand is procurable.
So is Russian beer. Excellent tea is always ready in the Samovars,
which are the lares et penatea of the Russian in foreign lands, accompanying him wherever he goes, and which are equally patronised
by the natives. Air-cushions are invaluable for a tarantass journey.
;
Wax candles are often a great blessing. Familiar precautions must

be taken against small but familiar pests.
It is useless to think of landing in Transcaspia without having
procured an oktriti list, or special permit, authorised or signed by
the Minister of War, which must be applied for at St. Petersburg.
An ordinary passport must also be taken, as it is examined and
registered by the local police in every Russian town. If the frontier
is to be crossed into Persia, this should have been viseed beforehand
at the Persian Embassy in London, or by a Persian Consul in some
neighbouring place.
It
hopeless at present to attempt penetrating into AfghanisWitness the experience of Mr. Stevens, the bicyclist, and of
the French travellers, MM. Pepin and Bonvalot.
For postal
journeys in Russian territory a podorojna must be -procured from
the postal station, and countersigned by the authorities. Payment is
always required before starting, and covers the entire expense of
tan.
is
DIRECTIONS TO TRAVELLERS
431
teams, provided at the several post-stations throughout the journey.

The document must be produced at each station and handed to the
The vehicle is hired separately, or, if wanted for long
postmaster.
distances, is frequently bought.
gratuity to the drivers is the
only extra expense.
Transcaspia and Western Turkestan are not in themselves to bo
visited for purposes of sport, although they are on the high road to
the sportsman's El Dorado, the Pamir, and the home of the Great
Mountain Sheep.
Letters to and from Transcaspia are only precariously delivered,
and are liable to be opened in transitu.
432
APPENDIX V
TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND BOKHARA
(1873)
CONCLUDED BETWEEN GENERAL AIDE-DE-CAMP KAUFMANN, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF TURKESTAN, AND SEID MOZAFFUR, AMIR OF
BOKHARA.
The frontier between the dominions of His Imperial
I.
Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias and His Highness the Amir
of Bokhara remains unchanged.
hi van territory on the right bank of the Amu Daria
The
having been incorporated in the Russian Empire, the former frontier
between Khiva and Bokhara, from the oasis of Khelata to Gugertli,
The territory between the former Bokharo-Khivan
is abolished.
frontier on the right bank of the Amu Daria from Gugertli to Meschekli, and from Meschekli to the point of junction of the former
Bokharo-Khivan frontier with the frontier of the Russian Empire,
is incorporated in the dominions of the Amir of Bokhara.
ART. II. The right bank of the Amu Daria being severed from
the Khanate of Khiva, the caravan routes leading north from Bokhara
into the Russian dominions traverse exclusively the territories of
Bokhara and Russia. The Governments of Russia and Bokhara,
each within its own territory, shall watch over the safety of these
caravan routes and of the trade thereupon.
ART. III. Russian steamers, and other Russian vessels, whether
belonging to the Government or to private individuals, shall have
the right of free navigation on that portion of the Amu Daria which
belongs to the Amir of Bokhara.
ART. IV. The Russians shall have the right to establish piers
and warehouses in such places upon the Bokharan banks of the Amu
Daria as may be judged necessary and convenient for that purpose.
ART.
The Bokharan Government

1
I.e.
shall be responsible for the safety of
since the Treaty of 1863.
433
The final and definite selection of localities shall

supreme Russian authorities in Central Asia.
ART. V. All the towns and villages of the Khanate of Bokhara
shall be open to Russian trade.
Russian traders and caravans shall
have free passage throughout the Khanate, and shall enjoy the
The Bokharan Governspecial protection of the local authorities.
ment shall be responsible for the safety of Russian caravans on
these erections.
rest with the
Bokharan
territory.
ART. VI. All merchandise belonging to Russian traders,

whether imported from Russia to Bokhara, or exported from Bokhara to Russia, shall be subject to an ad valorem duty of 2^ per
is charged in
cent., in the same manner as an ad valorem duty of 4
the Russian province of Turkestan. No other tax, duty or impost
whatsoever shall be imposed thereupon.
ART. VII. Russian traders shall have the right to transport
their merchandise through Bokhara free of transit dues.
ART. VIII. Russian traders shall have the right to establish
caravanserais for the storage of merchandise in all Bokharan towns.
The same right is accorded to Bokharan traders in the towns of the
Russian province of Turkestan.
ART. IX. Russian traders shall have the right to keep commercial agents in all the towns of Bokhara, in order to watch over
the progress of trade and the levying of duties, and to enter into
communications with the local authorities thereupon. The same
right is accorded to Bokharan traders in the towns of the Russian
!
province of Turkestan.
ART. X. All commercial engagements between Russians and
Bokharans shall be held sacred, and shall be faithfully carried out
The Bokharan Government shall undertake
by both parties.
to keep watch over the honest fulfilment of all such engagements,
and over the fair and honourable conduct of commercial affairs in
general.
XL
Russian subjects shall have the right, in common

Bokhara, to carry on all branches of industry
ard handicraft on Bokharan territory that are sanctioned by the
Liw of Sharigat. Bokharan subjects shall have a similar right to
practise all such occupations on Russian territory as are sanctioned
by the law of Russia.
ART. XII. Russian subjects shall have the right to acquire
ART.
\\
ith the subjects of
and own every species of real property in the

Such property shall be subject to the same land-tax as
ardens, cultivate lands,
II liana te.
F F
ftUSSIA
434:
IN CENTRAL ASIA
The same right shall be enjoyed by Bokharan

subjects in the whole territory of the Russian Empire.
ART. XIII. Russian subjects shall have the right to enter
Bokharan territory when furnished with permits, signed by the
Bokharan property.
They shall have the right of free passage

and shall enjoy the special protection of
the
Khanate,
throughout
the Bokharan authorities.
ART. XIV. The Bokharan Government shall not in any case
Russian authorities.
admit on to Bokharan territory any foreigners, of whatever nationality, arriving from Russian territory, unless they be furnished with
If a criminal,
special permits signed by the Russian authorities.
Ireing a Russian subject, takes refuge on Bokharan territory, he shall
bo arrested by the Bokharan authorities and delivered over to the
nearest Russian authorities.
ART. XV. In order to maintain direct and uninterrupted relations with the supreme Russian authorities in Central Asia, the
Arnir of Bokhara shall appoint one of his intimate counsellors to be
Such envoy
his resident envoy and plenipotentiary at Tashkent.
shall reside at Tashkent in a house belonging to the Amir and at
the expense of the latter.
ART. XVI. The Russian Government shall in like manner

have the right to appoint a permanent representative at Bokhara,
attached to the person of If is Highness the Amir. He shall reside
in a house belonging to the Russian Government and at the expense
of the latter,
ART. XVII. In conformity with the desire of the Emperor of

All the Russias, and in order to enhance the glory of His Imperial
Majesty, His Highness the Amir Seirl Mozaffur has determined as
The traffic in human beings, being contrary to the law
follows
which commands man to love his neighbour, is abolished for ever in
the territory of Bokhara.
In accordance with this resolve, the
strictest injunctions shall immediately be given by the Amir-to all
his Begs to enforce the new law, and special orders shall be sent to all
:
the frontier towns of Bokhara to which slaves are brought for sale
from neighbouring countries, that should any such slaves be brought
thither, they shall be taken from their owners and shall be set at
liberty without loss of time.
ART. XVIII, His Highness the Amir Seid Mozaffur, being
sincerely desirous of strengthening and developing the amicable relations which have subsisted for five years to the benefit of Bokhara,
approves and accepts for his guidance the above seventeen articles
435
composing a treaty of friendship between Russia and Bokhara.

This treaty shall consist of two copies, each copy being written in
the two languages, in the Russian and in the Turki language.
In token of the confirmation of this treaty and of its acceptance
for the guidance of himself and of his successors, the Amir Seid
Mozaffur has affixed thereto his seal. Done at Shaar on the 10th
day of October, 1873, being the 19th day of the month Shayban, of
the year
290.
436
APPENDIX VI
TREATY BETWEEN RUMIA AND PERMA
(relating to
Akhal-Khorfixfin Boundary), 1881
His Majesty the Emperor and

JN the name 6f God the Almighty.
Autocrat of All the Kussias, and His Majesty the 8hah of Persia,
acknowledging the necessity of accurately defining the frontier of
their possessions east of the Caspian Sea, and of establishing therein
security and tranquillity, have agreed to conclude a Convention for
that purpose, and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries
His Majesty the Emperor and Autocrat of All the Ilussias, on
the one hand, Ivan Zinovieff, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Shah ;
His Majesty the Shah of Persia, on the other, Mirza Seid Khan,
:
Mutemid-ul-Mulk, his Minister for Foreign Affairs ;

Who, having exchanged their respective full powers, found in
good aucl duo form, have agreed on the following Articles
ART. I. The frontier lino between the possessions of the Russian
Empire and Persia, east of the Caspian Sea, is fixed as follows
Beginning at the Hassan Kuli Gulf, the course of the Kiver
Atrek serves as the frontier as far as Chat. From Chat the frontier:
line follows in a north -easterly direction the ridges of the
Songu
ranges, thence extending northward to the Chandir

the
bed of that river at Tchakan Kala.
EJrom
Hiver, reaching
Tchakan Kala it runs in a noitherly direction to the ridge of the
Dagh and Sagirim
mountains dividing the Chandir and Sumbar valleys, and extends

along the ridge of these mountains in an easterly direction, descending to the bed of the Sumbar at the spot where the Akh-AgafaaaT
From this point eastward the bed of the
stream falls into it.
Sumbar marks the frontier as far as the ruins of Medjet Daine.
Thence the road to Durun forms the frontier- line as far as tie ridge
of the Kopet Dagh, along the ridge of which the frontier extends
south-eastward, but before reaching the upper part of the Gerniab
Pass, turns to the south along the mountain heights dividing the
TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND
1>KRSIA
437
Galley of the Sumbar from the source of the Gerinab. Thence taking
a south-easterly direction across the summits of the Misino and
Tchubest mountains, it reaches the road from Germab to Rabat,
passing at a distance of one verst to the north of the latter spot.
From
this point the frontier- line runs along the ridge of the mounsummit of the Dalai ig mountain, whence, passing
tains as far as the
on the northern side of the village of Khairabad, it extends in a

north -easterly direction as far as the boundaries of Geok Keital.
From the boundaries of Geok Keital the frontier-line crosses to the
gorge of the River Firuze, intersecting that gorge on the northern
Thence the frontier-line takes a southside of the village of Firuze.
easterly direction to the summits of the mountain range, bounding
on the south the valley through which the road from Askabad to
Firuze passes, and runs along the crest of these mountains to the
most easterly point of the range. From here the frontier-line crosses
over to the northernmost summit of the Aselm range, passing along
its ridge in a south-easterly direction, and then skirting round to the
north of the village of Keltechinar, it runs to the point where the
Zir-i-Koh and Kizil Dagh mountains join, extending thence southeastward along the summits of the Zir-i-Koh range until it issues into
the valley of the JBaba Durroaz stream. It then takes a northerly
direction, and reaches the oasis at the road from Gyaurs to Lutfabad,
leaving the fortress of Baba Durinaz to the east.
ART. II. Whereas, in Article I. of the present Convention, the
principal points are indicated through which the frontier between
the possessions of Russia and Persia is to pass, the High Contracting
Parties are to appoint Special Commissioners, with a view of

accurately tracing on the spot the frontier-line, and of erecting
proper boundary-marks. The date and place of meeting of the said
Commissioners shall be mutually agreed upon by the High Contracting Parties.
ART. III. Whereas the forts of Germab and Kulkulab, situated

in the gorge through which the stream watering the soil of the TransCaspian province passes, lie to the north of the line which, in virtue
of Article I. of the present Convention, is to serve as the boundary
between the territories of the two High Contracting Parties, the
Government of His Majesty the Shah engages to evacuate the said
forts within the space of one year from the date of the exchange of
the ratifications of the present Convention, but shall have the right
during the said period to remove the inhabitants of Gennab and
Kulkulab to within the Persian frontier, and to establish them there.
On its part, the Government of the Emperor of All the Russian.
43S
engages not to erect fortifications in these said

establish
any Turkoman
localities
nor to
families therein.
ART. IV. Whereas, the sources of the River Fifuze, as well as

of other streams watering the soil of the Transcaspian province contiguous to the Persian frontier lie within the Persian territory, the
Government of His Majesty the Shah engages on no account whatever to permit the establishment of fresh settlements along the
course of the said streams and rivulets from their sources to the
point where they leave Persian territory, and not to extend the area
of land at present under cultivation, and under no pretence whatever
to turn off the water in larger quantities than is necessary for irrigating the fields now under cultivation within the Persian territory.
With a view to the immediate observance and fulfilment of this

Government of His Majesty the Shah engages to
appoint a sufficient number of competent agents, and to subject any
stipulation the
inf ringer thereof to severe punishment.

ART. V. With a view to the development of commercial inter-
course between the Transcaspian province and Khorasan, both High

Contracting Parties engage to come to a mutually advantageous
agreement as soon as possible for the construction of wagon-roads
suitable for commercial traffic between the above-mentioned provinces.
ART. VI. The Government of His Majesty the Shah of Persia
engages to strictly prohibit the export from His Majesty's dominions
along the whole extent of the frontier of the provinces of Astrabad
and Khorasan, of all arms and war material, and likewise to adopt
measures to prevent arms being supplied to the Turkomans residing
The Persian frontier authorities shall afford
in Persian territory.
the most effective support to the agents of the Imperial Russian
Government, whose duty it shall be to watch that arms are not
The Government of His
exported from the Persian territory.
Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, on its part, engages to
prevent arms and war material being supplied from Russian territory
to Turkomans living in Persia.
ART. VII. With a view to the observance and fulfilment of the
stipulations of the present Convention, and in order to regulate the
proceedings of the Turkomans residing on the Persian frontier, wie
Government of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias shall
have the right to nominate agents to the frontier points of Persia.
In all questions concerning the observance of order and tranquillity
in the districts contiguous to the possessions of the High Contracting
Parties, the appointed agents will act as intermediaries in the
relations between the Russian and Persian authorities.
TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND PERSIA
439
ART. VIII. All engagements and stipulations contained in

Treaties and Conventions concluded up to this time between the two
High Contracting Parties shall remain in force.
ART. IX. The present Convention, done in duplicate, and
signed by the Plenipotentiaries of both parties, who have affixed to
it the seal of their arms, shall be confirmed and ratified by His
Majesty the Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and His
Majesty the Shah of Persia ; the ratifications to be exchanged
between the Plenipotentiaries of both parties at Teheran within the
space of four months, or earlier, if possible.
Done at Teheran the 21st December, 1881, which corresponds to
the Mussulman date of the 29th Mucharem, 1299.
440
APPENDIX
VII

I.
CENTRAL ASIA
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
IN
GENERAL.
Selection from early travels.

General information.
Bokhara.
Khiva.
Turkestan.
Turkoraania and the Turkomans.
THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY.
II.
III.
AFGHANISTAN.
1.
General information.
2.
3.
Anglo -Afghan wars.

The first Afghan war, 1838-1842.
The second Afghan war, 1878-1880.
The Afghan Frontier Question.
4.
Beluchistan.
5.
Euphrates Valley Railway.

IV. PERSIA.
it contains a great number of
that have not hitherto been collected, and covers a surface
distinct from any previous publication, makes no claim to be considered exhaustive.
It might without trouble and with the aid of
the excellent bibliographies that have been published by Russian
authorities, have been extended to tenfold its present dimensions.
The following Bibliography, though
titles
mere
from MejotTs copious volumes 1 would alone have

I have purposely limited it, however, in
sufficed for this object.
obedience to the following considerations. My desire has been to
name
1.
selection
The
Recueil
chief books relating to the subject-matter of this volume,
du Turkestan, comprenant
Centrale, compost par V. J. Mejoff.
des livres et des articles sur I'Asie

3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1878, 1884, 1888.
441
Russian and British Central Asia, that have appeared during

the not too remote past, and principally since the beginning of this
century, omitting such writings as have either become wholly obsolete or have ceased to merit attention.
i.e.
2.
The books most
easily accessible to English readers,
and for
the most part written in, or translated into, the English language.
I have accordingly only mentioned the principal Russian, German,
and French works. In the case of Russian publications, assuming
a general unfamiliarity with the Russian alphabet, I have either
reproduced the
titles in
English characters and appended a trans-
lation of their meaning, or have given the latter alone.

3. The more recent books dealing with the latest phases of the
Central Asian question, such as the Russo- Afghan frontier question

and the Persian question.
4. Such writings, irrespective of their merit or claim to live, as
have hitherto been published outside Russia, upon a Central Asian
or upon the Transcaspiaii Railway.
This literature is only of
ephemeral interest, but for the purposes of my book it has a certain
importance, because the interest is that of to-day.
The classification under four main headings I. Central Asia in
The Transcaspiaii Railway.

III. Afghanistan, and
does not pretend to be a mutually exclusive one.
Home
books, notably those of extended travel or political criticism, might
justly claim to be ranked under two, if not three, of the headings.
Such works have been placed in the category to which they seemed
most distinctively attached. The general principle of classification
has been adopted, because the four subjects named are those most
likely to appeal to the student as the objects of independent investiIn the case of Central Asia and Afghanistan, geographical,
gation.
historical, or political lines of cleavage have suggested a natural subThe books are arranged throughout
division into minor headings.
in chronological order, the date of the subject-matter (in the case of
history) being accepted as the criterion in preference to that of
general.
II.
IV. Persia
publication.
Restricting my range of vision in this bibliography, as in the book

which it fortns an appendix, to those parts of Central Asia in
which Great Britain and Russia have a common interest, and whose
history and fortunes are bound up with the policy of the two empires,
I have included no special references to Russian advance or power
to
in Siberia, Mongolia, Chinese Turkestan, or Thibet. The bibliography,

like the volume, may be defined as referring to the regions between
the Caspian on the west and
Khokand on the
east,
and from the
RUSSIA
442
Itf
CENTRAL ASIA
Indian frontier and the Persian Gulf 011 the south to the Syr Daria
and the Aral Sea on the north. Scientific works, i.e. works relating
to the physical features, climate, ethnography, flora, fauna, and
products of Central Asia, I have, as a general rule, excluded, as
unsuited to this work. Neither have I incorporated references to
the proceedings of scientific societies, nor articles from magazines,
periodical publications, and journals ; although much useful literature, only to be disinterred after prodigious labour, lies embedded in
these uninspiring surroundings.

Dr. Lansdell, at the close of his second volume, prints a bibliography, differently classified, and compiled with immense assiduity,
less eclectic principles.

student is more likely to be
bewildered than relieved by the spectacle of 700 titles, covering 22
pages of very small print, and relating to Russian Central Asia alone.
His bibliography, further, like his chronology, omits all reference to
Persia, Afghanistan, and the Frontier Question, and ceases in 1 884,
My bibliography of the three last-named subjects is, so far as I know
the first that has appeared.
In the compilation of the following catalogue valuable assistance
lias been most amiably lent to me by Mr. G. K. Fortescue, Assistant
Librarian of the British Museum.
but upon
Iliouen Thsang.
du
I.
CENTRAL ASIA
1.
Selection from
IN GENERAL.
Early Travels.
Mdmoires sur les contrees occidentals traduits

Tan 648 et du chiiiois en franâis,
:
Sanscrit en chinois en
par M. Stanislas Julien. Paris 1853, 1858.

Ibn Haukal. The Oriental Geography of I. H., an Arabian traveller
Translated by Sir William Ouseley, Kt.
of the 10th century.
:
London: 1800.
jRubruqitis,
W.
de.
The Journal
of Friar William de Rubruquis, a
Frenchman
of the Order of the Minorite Friers, into the East

Parts of the Worlde, A.D. 1253. (Hakluyt Society.) London
:
1859.
Travels in the Thirteenth Century, being a description

of Remarkable Places and Things in
the Eastern Parts of the World, translated, with notes, by
W, Marsden. London 1818.
Polo, Marco.
by that Early Traveller
The Book
Marco Polo the Venetian, concerning

the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Newly translated and
of Ser

edited,
with notes,
London
<kc.,
443
Henry Yule.
by Colonel
1871, 1875.
Ibn Batutah. The Travels of Ibii Batutah (1324-5).
S. Lee.
London 1829.
Voyages of Ibn Batutah. London 1853.
vols.
Translated by
Don Ruy
Narrative of the Embassy of

Gonzalez
di
the
to
Court of Timour at Samarkand,
Ruy
Clavijo
A.D. 1403-6. Translated by C. R. Markham (Hakluyt Society).
Clavijo,
Gonzalez
di.
London 1859.
The Life of Muharamed Babar(Thakir Al-Din), Emperor of
Hindostan. (Written by himself in the Jaghatai Toorki language.) Translated by J. Leyder and W. Erskine, with notes
and a geographical and historical introduction. Together with
a map of the countries between the Oxus and Jaxartes, and a
memoir regarding its construction by C. Waddington. London
:
Baber.
1826.
Another edition abridged by R. M. Caldecott.
London
1844.
Early Voyages and Travels to Russia and Persia by

557 -1572) and other Englishmen. With some account
of the first intercourse of the English with Russia and Central
Asia by way of the Caspian Sea. Edited by E. D. Morgan
and C. H. Coote (Hakluyt Society). 2 vols. London 1886.
The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier
Tavernier, J. B.
through Turkey into Persia and the East Indies, finished in the
year 1670, made English by J. P. To which is added a description of all the Kingdoms which encompass the Euxine and
Caspian Seas, by an English traveller. London 1678.
Voyages de, d'apres des documents nouveaux, par Ch.
Jenkinson, A.
A.
J. (^
Paris
Jovet.
1866.
The Voiages
Stmiys, Jan.
arid Travels of J. S. through Italy, Greece,

Together
Muscovy, Tartary, Media, Persia, East India, Japan
with an account of the authors
dangers by shipwreck
And two Narratives of the taking
torture, <fec.
slavery
of Astracan by the Cossacks, sent from Capt. D. Butler. Done
.
1684.
out of Dutch by J. Morrison. London
Chardin, Sir J. Travels into Persia and the East Indies. London
:
1686.
Voyages en Perse et autres lieux de TOrient. Nouvelle

augmented d'une notice de la Perse depuis les temps
Edition
les plus recutes jusqu'a ce jour,
Paris
1811.
par L. Langles.
10
vols.
444
An
Account of the British Trade over

a
Journal of Travels from London
with
;
through Russia into Persia and back again through Russia,
Germany, and Holland ; to which are added the Revolutions
of Persia during the present century, with the particular History of Nadir Kouli, tfec. 4 vols. 1753. 2 vols. 1754. London
Uanway, Jonas.
Historical
the Caspian Sea
17f>3, 1754, 1762.
An
Account of the Present Troubles of Persia

Continuation of J. H.'s History to the end of
Historical
and Georgia.
1753.
London: 1756.
General Information.
2.
Fo rttter, Gvo.
London
Journey from Bengal to England, overland. 2

:
vols.
1808.
On the practicability of
JKvans, Lt.-Col. De Lacy.
British India.
London 1829.
an Invasion of
Journey to the North of India, overland from

2 vols.
England through Russia, Persia, and Afghanistan.
Conolly, Capt. A.
London 1834, 1838.

M'Neill, Sir J.
Progress and present position of Russia in the
East.
1836, 1854.
Essai sur les ressources territoriales et comrnerHagenieister, J. de.
ciales de 1'Asie Occidentale, le caractere des habitaiis, leur industrie et leur organisation municipale. St. Petersburg
1839.
Urquhart, D. Diplomatic Transactions in Central Asia from 1834
to 1839.
London 1841.
Progress of Russia in the West, North, and South, by
opening the sources of opinion and appropriating the channels
:
of Wealth and Power.

London 1853.
Wood) Capt. J.
personal Narrative of a Journey to the source of
the River Oxus, by the route of the Indus, Kabul, and Badakh
:
London 1841.
With an Essay on the Geography
the Oxus by Col. H. Yule. London 1872.
shan, in 1836, 1837, 1838.
A new edition.
Valley of
of the
Asie Centrale. Recherches sur les chaines de

Iluinboldt, Alex. von.
montagnes et la climatologie compared. 3 vols. Paris 1843.
Les Steppes de la mer Caspienne, le Caucase,
Hetty Xavier H. de.
la Crirae'e et la Russie M&idionale.
3 vols. Paris 1843-5.
:
Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea. London 1847.

Land March from England to Ceylon forty years
Mitford) JB. L.
2 vols. London
1884.
ago.
:
445
Zimmermann,) Lieut. C. Denkschrift liber den untern Lauf des

Oxus zum Karaburgas-Haff des Caspischeu Meeres und iiber
die Strombahn des Ochus oder Tedshen der Neueren zur
Balkan Bay. Berlin 1845.
:
Memoire sur la partie m^ridionale de TAsiQ

Khanikoff, JV. de.
Centrale.
Paris: 1861.
Anonymous. Report on the Trade and Resources of the Countries
on the N.W. Boundary of British India. Lahore 1862.
:
The Russians in Central

Valikhanoff, Capt., and Veniukoff, M.
Asia, their occupation of the Kirghiz Steppe and the line of the
Syr-Daria, their political relations with Khiva, Bokhara, and
also descriptions of Chinese Turkestan and
Dzungaria.
Capt. Valikhanoff, M. VeniukofF, arid other Russian travelTranslated by J. and R. Michell.
lers.
London 1865.
Kokan,
By
M.
The Pamir and the Sources of the Amu-Daria.

Translated by J. Michell
1866.
Opyt Voiennago Obozreiiiya Russkikh Oranits v Asii.
(Attempt at a military sketch of the Russian frontiers in Asia.)
Veniukoff,
St.
-
Petersburg
1873.
Les plus recentes explorations russes en Asie.

I.: M.
Rheinthal a Kashgar. II.: M. Nikitin a Khokand. Russische
Revue. St. Petersburg 1876.
:
On
Geographical discoveries in Asiatic Russia, 1577-1877
(Russian).
List of Russian travellers in Asia from
Yule, Col.
H.
London
Cathay and the
1 854-1 880
(Russian).
Thither (Hakluyt Society).
Way
1866.
Travels in Central Asia. Journey from Teheran

Vatnbery, A.
across the Turkoman Desert, on the east shore of the Caspian,
to Khiva, Bokhara,
don 1864.
and Samarcand, performed
in 1863.
Lon-
Sketches of Central Asia. Additional chapters' on

my
and on the Ethnology of Central Asia.
Travels, Adventures,
London : 1867, 1868.
Russlands Machtstellung in Asien. Leipzig 1871.

Centralasien und cUe englisch-russische Grenzfrage. Gesammelte politische Schriften. Leipzig 1873.
Central Asia and the Anglo-Russian Frontier Question.
Translated by F. E. Burnett. London 1874.
Life and Adventures written by himself.
London 1883,
:
1884, 1885, 1886, 1889.
The Coming Struggle
for India.
London
1885.
446
Major Evans.
Bell,
London
The Oxus and the Indus.
1869,
1874.
Hellwald, F. von. Die Ilussen in Centralasien : eine geographischWien : 1869.

historische Studie mit einer Uebersichtskarte,
critical examination
The Russians in Central Asia.
down to the present time of the Geography and History of
Central Asia. Translated from the German by T. Wirgman.
London 1874.
Centralasien. Landschaften und Volker in Kaschgar, TurMit besonderer Riicksicht auf
kestan, Kaschmir und Tibet.
Russlands Bestrebungen und seinen Kulturberuf,
Leipzig
1875.
Trench, Capt. F.
gically,
and
The Russo-Indian Question,

considered
London 1869.
politically
historically, strate-
with sketch of Central
Asiatic politics.
The Central Asian Question (a lecture). London
JRomanovski, M. Notes on the Central Asiatic Question.
Calcutta 1870,
lated by R. Michell.
:
1873.
Trans-
CoL L. F.
Srednyaya Aziya i vodvorenie v nei Rooskoi

(Central Asia and the Installation therein
grajdanstvennosti.
St. Petersburg
1871,
of Russian Civilisation).
Central
and
its
F.
J.
Asia
Sir
London: 1873.
Question.
Goldsmid,
Fedchenko, A. Letters from Khokand to the Turkestan Gazette.
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Recueil du Turkestan, comprenant des livres et des

Mejoff) V. J.
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1878, 1884, 1888.
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E. de. Expedition scientifique franâise

Sil^rie et dans le Turkestan.
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le
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Caspian Region from 1720 to 1874. St. Petersburg 1875.
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Petniaewtch, Gen.
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assan Question.
Weil,
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O. K. (Olga Nowkoff, n<*e Kiryeeff).
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Dantchenko, V. I. N. Personal Reminiscences of General Skobeleff.

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Adam,Mme. Le G&i&ul Skobeleff. Paris: 1886.
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Official Report on the Siege and Assault of Denghil

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Madoff, Capt. A. N. Zavoevante Akhal Teke. (The Conquest of
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Voina v Turkmenie. (The War in Turkomania.)
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Travels and Adventures East of

the Caspian, during the years 1879, 1880, 1881, including five
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story of Adventure
and Captivity.
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les Turcomans de la c6te orientale do
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Vorlaiifiger Bericht iiber die Expedition nach
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und
Transcaspien
Penkin, Z. M. The Transcaspian Province, 1866-1885. Alphabetical Index to the titles of books and articles relating to
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la
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Notice sur
de.
Caspienne.
the Transcaspian province and adjacent countries. (Russian.) St.

Petersburg 1888.
*
Overland Journey to India/ Vamb^ry's
( Vide also Conolly's
Travels in Central Asia/ Rawlinson's ' England and Russia
in the East/ Moser's *
Travers 1'Asie Centrale/ Lansdell's
Russian Central Asia/ Boulger's England and Russia in
Central Asia/ and Central Asian Questions/ Marvin's works
passim^ works under the heading Transcaspian Railway/ and
:
Parliamentary Papers passim.)

II.
THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY.
Bykovski, G. I. de. Le tour du monde en 66 jours, et de Londres et

de Paris en 4 jours aux Indes par la Russie. Projet de la
jonction des chemins de fer Europeans avec les chemins de fer
de I'lnde. Paris 1872.
Cotard, Ch. Le chemin de fer Central- Asiatique. Paris : 1875.
offdanovitch, E.
Exposd de la question relative au chemin de fer
de la Sib<*rie et de 1'Asie Centrale. Paris 1875.
Annenkoff, Gen. M. Akhal Tekinski Oazisipooti y Indiyou. (The
Akhal Tekke Oasis and Routes to India.) St. Petersburg :
1881.
:
Marvin, Ch.
1883.
The Russian Railway to Herat and
India.
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Russian Railway to Herat and India. London 1885.
Chemin de fer Transcaspien. (Revue du Gtkiie
houlangier, E.
Afarvin, Ch.
Militaire,
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chemin de fer Transcaspien. Paris 1888.
Cotteau, E. Voyage en Transcaspienne (July 24-Oct 11, 1887).
:
Paris
Vatalik,
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lleyfelder,
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Translated by Lt.-Col. W. E. Gowan.
1888.
und
seine
Hanover
O.
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Transkaspien
Y.
Ney, Napoleon. En Asie Centrale & la vapeur. Notes de voyage.

Paris: 1888.
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Cholet, Comte de.
Russo-Afghane. Paris 1889.
Vide also Ch. Marvin's 'The Russian Advance towards
'
The Russians at Merv and
India,' chap. x. (London, 1882) ;
:
Herat/ Book iv. chap. iv. (London, 1883) ; and Major C. E.

Yate's 'Northern Afghanistan,' chap, xxviii. (London, 1888).
III.
1.
AFGHANISTAN.
General Information.
An Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and

Elphinstone, Hon. M.
its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary and India ; comprising a
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Dorn, Dr. B. History of the Afghans, translated from the Persian
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London 1829, 1836.

of Neamet Ullah.
Jfohan, Lai. Journal of a Tour through the Panjab, Afghanistan,
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Lieutenant Burnes and Dr. Gerard. Calcutta 1834.
:
Life of the
His
Amir Dost Mahommed Khan
of Kabul, and
towards the English, Russian, and
Political Proceedings
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Germany. London 1846.
:
Persia and Afghanistan.

1839.
correspondence. London
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Travels in the Himalayan Provinces

Moorcroft, W., and Trebeck, G.
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1841.
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by Captain L. Pelly. Bombay 1858. London 1858.

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or Modern Persia;
H H
408
London
being Experiences of Life in Persia from 1866-1881.
1883.
Wills, C. J.
Persia as it
Character. London
Orso lie,
Le Caucase
IS.
Being Sketches of Modern Life and
is.
1886.
et la Perse.
Paris
carte et d'un plan.
Ouvrage accompagn
d'une
1885.
and Andreas, F. C. Die Handelsverhaltnisse Persiens.

(Petermann's Mitteilungen, 1884-5.) Gotha 1885.
Radde, Dr. G. Reisen an der Persisch-russischen Grenze. Taiysch
und seine Bewohner. Leipzig 1886.
The Land of the Imams.
Narrative of Travel
Persia.
Hassett, J.
and Residence, 1871-1885.
New York 1886. London :
Stolze, F.,
1887.
Benjamin,
S. G.
W*
Persia.
Story of the Nations.
London: 1886,
1887.
Persia and the Persians. London

1887.
Persian Portraits.
Sketch of Persian History
Arbnthnot, F. F.
:
Literature,
Binder, H.
and
London
Politics.
1887.
Au
Kurdistan, en Mesopotamie et en Perse. Ouvrage

illustre* de 200 dessins d'apres les photographies et croquis de
Pauteur.
1 887.
Paris
Layard, Sir A. //. Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, including a Residence among the Bakhtiari and other
wild tribes. 2 vols. London
1887.
1887.
Noldeke, Th. Aufsatze zur Persischen Geschichte.
Gutschmid, A. V. Geschichte Irans. 1888.
La Perse, la Chaldde, et la Susiane. Relation
Dieulqfoy, Mme, J.
de voyage, Paris 1887.
Suse.
Journal de fouilles, 1884-6. Paris 1888.
Around the World on a Bicycle. 2 vols. London
Stevens, Thoa.
:
1888.
*
(Vide also Selection from Early Travels ; Conolly's Overland Journey to India ; Mitford's Land March to Ceylon ;
Rawlinson's England and Russia in the East ; O'Donovan's
Merv Oasis ; Marvin's Merv ; Moser's *
travers 1'Asie
Centrale ; Bonvalot's Through the Heart of Asia ; and Par'
'
'
'
'
'
'
liamentary Papers passim.)
'
'
INDEX
ABB
ATE
ABBOTT, Major J., 4, 111, 188

Abdul Ahad, vide Bokhara, Amir
of
Abdul Melik, 158

Abdullah Khan, 163, 164, 237
Abdurrahman Khan, 123-5, 232,
330, 350-1, 355-6, 858-9, 861-2,
865, 366, 867, 869
Abramoff, General, 292, 829
Afghanistan, 99, 128, 252, 265,
267, 284, 295, 297, 826, 828,
-
.Turkestan, 124-5, 149, 232,

252, 264, 275, 283, 297, 303,
806, 807, 329, 843
Afrasiab, 162, 235
Afridis, the, 863, 372
Aidin, 54
Akbar the Great, 219, 228
71,
73,
280,
Alikhanoff, Colonel, 42, 106, 112,

114, 118, 122, 125-7, 129, 310,
358, 865, 392
Alp Arslan, 110, 1,46, 182
Daria, the, vide Oxus
Amu
station, 61,
298
province, 252-8, 254, 255,

257, 404, 411
Andkui, 149, 165, 275, 282, 344,
Annenkoff, General,
partition of, 360-1

Afghans, the, 114, 172, 249, 263
Afghan wars, 811, 827, 357-8, 368
frontier, 322, 344,348-9, 350-5,
365
history, 356-8
army, 861-2, 868
independence, 364-6
oasis,
III., 23, 117, 138,
360
330-1, 862
trade with, 280-5
British officers in, 868-70
Akoha, 282
Akhal Tekke
252
Alexander
816
96,
Alexander the Great, 110, 136,

144, 161, 293
Alexander I., 325
1, 5> 18, 18,

27, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 52, 54, 60,
103, 106, 108, 143, 146, 158,
215, 233, 264, 267, 271, 274,
277-8, 291, 298, 310, 812, 387,

899, 405-6, 408, 411
Aral Sea, the, 69, 238, 255
Araxes, the, 374
Arba, 167
Architecture, Arabian, 223-4
Arman
Sagait, 94
the, 96, 97, 106, 114,
Armenians,
286
Arnold, M., quoted, 144

Artik, 100
Asia, Central, vide Central Asia
Askabad, 44, 58, 61, 66, 83, 98-4,
96-9, 101, 265, 271, 278, 275,
281, 288, 292, 298, 298, 802,
818, 326, 342, 875, 400, 429
Astrabad, 287, 304, 824
Astrakhan, 64, 299, 824
Atek oasis, 71, 100, 102, 252, 802
470
ATB
CLA
Atrek, the, 88, 96

Attock, 846
Austria, feeling towards, in Russia,
Bokharan
prison, 184-5
bazaar, 185, 189
currency, 188-9
26
Ayub Khan, 859
trade, 189-92, 202,256,281-2,
286
Azerbaijan, 287, 288
court
Baber Sultan, 211

Badakshan, 829, 842, 858, 860
Bagdad, ,878
Bahmi, 76, 89
Baieff, M., 78
Bairain Ali, 116, 185, 187
Baisun, 159
Baker, Colonel VaL, 4, 101, 883
SO, 62, 181, 1&8, 277, 281,

288, 289, 294, 299, 800, 429
Baku,
Bala Ishem, 54
Murghab, 844
Balkan Bay, 404
115, 119, 154, 157, 249, 896

the, 44, 50, 846
Bonvalot, Gabriel, 119, 159, 184,
840-1, 8G6, 480
Bosaga, 264, 848
Bolan railway,
Boulangier, Edgar, 46, 47, 81-2

Bourdalik, 264
Brende, J., 141
British, the, feeling towards, in
Russia, 25
officers in Afghanistan, vide
Afghanistan
A., 215
Bujnurd, 286, 287, 874
Burnaby, Capt. F., 4, 111, 887
Burnes, Sir A., 4, 110, 145, 165,
178, 182
Bushire, 99, 287, 878, 880
Buchanan, Sir
Balkans, the Great, 68

the Little, 68
Balkh, 262, 806, 808, 820, 880,

841, 848,
84&-9, 860, 868-9, 871
A
Bamian, 262, 806, 880, 848
Barkhut Pass, 266

Barogil Pass, 842
Batchas, 200
Batoum, 16, 285, 289
Baz Girha, 98
Bazoff General, 400
of,
CASPIAN SEA, the,
8, 80, 56, 68, 71,

275, 28G, 294, 298, 299, 303, 809,
329, 374
marine, 800
121, 857,
Boluchistan, 44, 50, 270, 820, 884,

8CB, 877, 879
Bender Abbas, 99, 287, 880
Berlin Treaty, 292, 816, 827
Bibi Khanym, 218, 224-5, 229
Bielinski, M., 146
Black Sea, steamboat service, 8
Bogdanovitch, M., 260
Bokhara, 9, 48, 56, 61, 99, 109,
110, 122, 149, 151, 158-204, 214,
252, 254, 266, 278, 274, 278-9,
806, 823, 842; 405, 480
Ami? of, 152, 155, 15ft, 159-60,
215, 274
Russian town, 154-5

population of, 171-5
Bokharan women, 175
u
and army, 198-200
irrigation, 206-9
Bokhariots, the, 49, 50, 06, 114,
BABA DURMAZ, 100, 818

Baba Khan, 182
Beaconsneld, Earl
878
buildings, 175, 186
Catherine, Empress, 324

Caucasus, the, 28, 299, 844
Cavagnari, Sir L M 868
Central Asia, 9 et passim
Asian railway, 85-7
climate, 75, 118, 218
scenery, 189, 140, 228-30
trade, 99, 189-91, 277-91
population, 252-8
Chaman, 269, 296, 846
Charvilayet, 282
Chihil Dukhtaran, 296
Chinese, the, 887, 410
Chita, 268
Chitral, 297, 829, 841, 842
Cholet, Comte de, 8, 117, 865,
400
Clarendon, {Earl of, 82$
Clavyo, Doil Buy de, 14$J, 212, 224,
f
281
INDEX
471
HEL
Cfcl
Climate, vide Central Asia

Clubs, Russian military, 109, 246
Colonisation, Russian, 408-11
Commerce, vide Afghanistan,
Bokhara, Central Asia, Persia,
and Turkestan
Conolly, Capt. A., 8, 110, 165, 179,
Fort Alexandrovsk, 96
France, feeling towards, in Russia,
26
French in Central Asia,
the, 5
Frere, Sir Bartle, 369
Frontier question, vide Afghani*
stan, and India
184
Constantinople, 288, 321-8
Cotard, M., 85
Cotton plantation, 115, 116, 118,
'241, 254, 263, 278, 405-7
Crassus, 110
Critt, The'o,
812
Czar, the, vide Alexander III.
DARIUS, 109
Darwaza, 380
GARBKH, Colonel, 164

Gasteiger Khan, General, 98
G<5me, M. do St., 824
Geok Tepe,
10, 37, 41, 72, 76-8,

111, 128, 131, 278, 298, 298, 802,
318, 328
siege and capture of, 78-85,
97, 386, 396
Gerard, Dr.
Dastarkhan, 169, 201

De'cauville railway, 40, 58
Denghil Tepe, 87, 79, 82, 85, vide
also Geok Tepe
Dera Ghazi Khan, 346

Dereguez, 287, 874
Dervishes, 177
Dilke, Sir C., Ill, 271, 308, 350
Divan Begi of Bokhara, 179, 195,
203
Dolgorouki, Prince, 875
Dost Mohammed, 325, 856, 357,

358, 368
Dufferin, Marquis of, 841, 351,
387
J.,
165
Germans, the, 114, 171

Germany, dislike of, in Russia, 21,
22, 23
:
Ghilzais, the, 50, 359, 368, 873
Ghurian, 268
Ghuzni, 340, 848, 352
Giaour Kala, 135
Gilgit, 297
Girishk, 380
Gladstone, Mr., 822-3, 358
Gloukhovskoe, General, 80, 404
Gomul Pass, 845, 846
Gortchakoff, Pririce, 215, 319, 826
Gowan, Colonel W,
E., 7
Granvilie, Earl, 86, 326
Duhamel, General, 325

Duranis, the, 363
Dilshak, 100, 102, 266, 808, 844
Greeks, the, 114

Grigorieff, Professor, 164-5
Grodekoff, General, 11, 42, 77, 88,
84-5, 119, 129, 302, 828, 885,
EDUCATION, Native, 242, 243, 894
404
Grotengelm, General, 329
Gulistan, 380
Gur Amir, vide Tamerlane, tomb
Ernralis, the, vide
Turkomans
Enzeli lagoon, 375

Erivan, 289, 407
Ersaris, the, vide
of
Turkomans
Euphrates Valley Railway, 878
Gur Djemal, 132

Gwadur, 380
Gyaurs, 100
Gypsies, the, 249
FA&RAH,
268,' 824,
388
Ferghana, 252-8, 264, 256, 257,

292, 829, 842, 406
Foreign Office Reports quoted,
189, 278, 280, 286, 287, 288, 290,
407
HAIDAHOFF, Colonel, 81
Hazaras, the, 363
Helmund,
871
the, 294, 803, 804, 821,
RUSSIA
472
Itf
CENTRAL ASIA
HER
KHR
Jilanuti Pass, 287
Jizak, 197, 285, 287
Jumrood, 845, 872
Herat, 120, 262, 205, 207-8, 284,

298, 294, 290, 298, 804, 807,
818, 821, 824, 825, 842, 844,
847-9, 852, 857, 860, 865, 877,
888
Heri Bud, the, 102, 128, 260, 800,
874 ; vide also Tejend
KAAHKA, 298
Kabul, 262, 282, 284, 292, 294,
Heyfelder, Dr. O., 40, 59, 82, 86,

155, 160, 190, 194-7
Hindu Kush, the, 145, 292, 294,
842, 860, 872
Hindus, the, 172, 249
Hiouen Tsang, 211
Hissar, 159
Hodjent, 242
Hogg, Reynold, 165
Homo, Colonel, 801
Humayun, 228
Hurnai Pass, 846
IBN HAUKAL, 113, 152, 212

Igdi wells, 404
Ignatieff, General, 85
Imam Baba, 298
India, Russian designs upon, 11
14, 819-84, 841-9
illusions about, 884-41
invasion of, 297, 806-7
British rule in, 888-40,886-7,
897-9
Indian frontier, 18, 888, 845-7
trade, 280, 284, 285
army, 808, 885
Irbit, 256
Irkutsk, 268
Is-hak Khan, 19, 122-5, 282, 288,
B59, 862
Ispahan, 287, 878, 880
297, 306, 309, 324, 828, 330, 841,

848, 848, 352, 864, 868-9, 871-8
Kadjar Khan, 112, 132
Kafiristan, 829, 342
Kandahar, 111, 120, 262, 267-70,
295, 804, 809, 321, 324, 346, 348,
852, 858, 859, 864, 869, 371
Kansk, 263
Kara Kul,
153, 186,205
lake, 842
Kum, the, 69, 70, 73-5,
>
>
102,
385, 408
Karibent, 401
Kara, 289
Karshi, 188, 184, 217, 329
Karun, the, 375, 381
Kashgar, 254
Kashgariana, the, 249
Kashmir, 292, 297, 829, 841-2,
845
Kasili Bend, 115
Katta Kurgan, 205, 242, 305
Kaufmann, General,
85, 136, 156,

241, 243,246,292, 294, 806, 827,
328-9, 335, 396, 482
Kavkas newspaper, the, 281, 389
Kazalmsk, 279, 400
Kazanjik, 54
Kelat-i-Nadiri, 101-2, 287, 874
Kerki, 124, 147, 149, 150, 262, 264,
284, 297, 305, 306
Kermineh, 158, 197, 204
Khabarooka, 263
Khamiab, 264, 865
JAGATAI KHAN, 162
Jam, 292, 829
Jamshidis, the, 868
Jaxartes, the, vide Syr Daria
Jehangir, 228
Jellalabad, 842
Jenghiz Khan, 9, 110, 180, 162,
177
Jenkinson, Anthony, 162, 188, 192,
197, 287
Jews in Central
Asia, the, 96, 97,

114, 172-8, 249, 250
Khanikoff, Nic. de, 168, 178, 185

Khiva, 43, 69, 97, 110, 165, 252,
254, 256, 275, 281, 818, 408-5
Khivans, the, 114, 115
Khoi, 288
Khojak Pass, 377
Khojent, 254, 255, 408
Khokand, 242, 256, 273, 818, 405 *
Khorasan, 69, 98, 97,98, 101, 122,
198, 275, 278, 287, 302, 808, 304,

883, 874-6
Khruleff, General, 825-6
INDEX
473
KHU
MIC
Khulm, 348*360, 865

Khwaja Amran Mountains,
Lesseps, Ferdinand
846,
880
de,
85,
86,
Littledale, St. G., 18

Lomakin, General, 37, 85, 295,
Lumsden, Sir P., 94, 181
819
263
Lhasa, 251-2
Kala, 882
Khyber Pass, 845
Kibitkas, Turkoman, 78, 97
Kiepert, Herr, 404
Kilif, 262, 297, 806
Kirghiz, the, 96, 114, 172, 285,
249, 898, 896
Lundi Kotal, 872

Lutfabad, 91, 100
Kirman, 880
Kizil Art Pass, 842
Arvat, 88, 40, 41, 48-4, 49, 55,
61, 72, 295, 298
Takir, 85
Koh-i-baba, 860
*
Kohik, the, vide Zerafshan
Kohistan, 252
Koktash, the, 215, 216
Kolab, 842
Komaroff, General, 17, 44, 94, 112,
116, 125, 129, 181, 198, 201, 816
Kopet Dagh, the, 68, 98
Kostenko, M., 252
Koushid Khan Kala,
45, 106, 112,
184
Kozelkoff, Colonel, 81
Kozlof, Lieutenant, 250
Krasnovodsk, 32, 88, 66, 89, 90,

96, 278, 298, 295, 301
Krestovski, M., 222
Kuchan, 90, 98, 286, 874
Kuhsan, 266, 883
Kulja, 251, 252, 387
Kunduz, 860
Kungans, 187
Kuren Dagh, the, 68
Kurgan, 263
Kurgans, 74
Kuropatkin, General, 80, 258, 831
Kurrachi, 809, 346, 878
Kurum Valley, 845, 873
Rush Begi of Bokhara, 158, 179,
180, 203
Kushk, battle of the, 44, 94, 97,
128, 295, 316, 362, 364
MAASUM, vide Shah Murad

MacGregor, Sir
C., 4, 101, 111,

121, 295, 297, 306, 813, 842, 870,
875, 888
McNeill, Sir J., 268
Mahometanism in Central Asia,
99, 171, 193, 878, 898
Maili Khan, 132
Maimena,
149, 275, 282, 844, 860,
368
Makdum
Kuli Khan, 79, 131

Manchuria, 410
andeville, Sir J., 211
Mangishlak, 96
Marghilan, 329, 348
Martin, Joseph, 252
Marvin, Charles, 7, 11, 42, 111,
329
Matsaeff, Colonel, 829
Mayo, Earl
of,
368
Mazar-i-Sherif, 165, 848, 368

Mazenderan, 287, 288
Medresses, 176, 216, 218, 220-5,
894
J., 248, 440
Meruchak, 298
Merv, 10, 13, 53, 55, 61, 87, 91,
Mejoff, V.
96, 266, 273, 298, 295, 298, 806,
318, 842, 344, 401, 406,409, 429

annexation of, 45, 111-2, 127
oasis, 71, 109, 113-8, 140, 252
administration of, 114

trade of, 115
irrigation of, 117
ancient, 109, 110, 185, 188
modern, 106-9
LANSDELL, Rev. Dr., 4,
172, 217, 222, 421, 442
Lash Juwain, 880
Lawrence, Lord, 868
Lessar, Paul, 41, 265
18, 166,
Khans of, 181-2, 198, 389

Meshed, 98, 99, 101, 111, 223, 275,
286, 287, 326, 344, 375, 388
Mestcherin, M., 18, 59, 146, 261
Meyer, Naval Cadet, 80
Michaelovsk, 39, 46, 55, 61
474
MIL
PUI*
vide
Military strength of Russia,
Oxus
flotilla,
148-50, 264
Russians
Militia,
Turkoman, vide Turko-
mans
PALASHKOFSKI, M., 290

Pall Mall Gazette, 291
Pamir, the, 145, 252, 297, 308, 329,
345, 431
Paropamisus Mountains, 266
Parthians, the, 110
Pashino, Dr., 186, 340
Mokannah, 110
Molla, Karl, 54
Moorcroft, Wm., 165
Moore, T., quoted, 107, 175
28, 44, 299
Moser, Henri, 161, 222
Moscow,
Mozaffur-ed-din,
156, 157,
163,
482-5
Murad Bey, 132
Murghab,
the, 58, 106,
Passports, 30
Pathans, the, 368

115, 117,
266, 298, 844, 408
NADIR SHAH,
188, 219, 293

Naphtha, 80, 58, 255
Napier, Major, 297

Napoleon L, 824, 825
Nasirabad, 880
Nasrullah, 168, 165, 183
Ney, Napoleon, 8
Niaz Khan, 132
Nicholas, Emperor, 825
Nijni Novgorod, 28, 190, 256, 279,
286, 800
ffur Verdi Khan, 181, 132
1
OASES, Turkoman, 71-8, 96, 802,
402
Merv, vide Merv
O'Donovan, Edmund,
4, 77, 87,
101, 105, 111, 182, 188, 195, 892
Oktai Khan, 162

262, 805
Orenburg, 165, 190, 214, 256,
262 3, 279, 294, 805, 819, 828,
824
Orlandi, Giovanni, 184
Orloff, General, 824
Orodes, 110
Orsk, 256
Osh, 342
Oetolopoff, Lieutenant, 80
Ov% polj, 18, 248, 431
Oxus, the, 9, 82, 85, 46, 55, 68,
Omsk,
'
148-6, 278, 290, 292, 297, 805,

852, 858, 861
t>ridge, 46, 53, 146-8, 819
old beds, 68, 70, 403-5
Paul, Emperor, 324

Pavloff, General, 9
Peiwar Kotal, 828, 373
Penjakent, 229, 255
Penjdeh, 44, 94, 96, 113, 115, 121,

183, 252, 266-7, 278-4, 293, 818
Persia, 275,
285, 298, 825, 867,
874-81
trade with, 287-91, 376, 407
railways in, 875-7, 879-81
British policy towards, 374-81
Persian mountains, the, 56, 68,
402
frontier, the, 68, 98, 100, 101,
804
army, 876
Gulf, 877
Persians, the, 96, 97, 114, 119, 172,
198, 249, 800, 803-4, 876
Peshawur, 342, 345, 847, 372
Conference, the, 368

Peter the Great, 11, 28, 269, 404,
418
Petro Alexandrovsk, 149, 829
Petropavlosk, 256
Petrovsk, 2, 299
Petrusevitch, General, 88, 335,
404
Pevtsoff, Colonel, 262
Pishin, 321, 834, 346* 872,
377,
879
Poklefski, M., 117, 118
Poles, the, 114, 171
Polo, Marco, 10, 163, 182
Porsa Kala, 107

Possolskaia, 263
Poti289
Pottinger, Eldred, 825, 369*
Prjevalski, General, 250-2, Bll
Pul-i-Khatun, 266, 298, 296, 298,
365
INDEX
475
SIN
QUE
QUETTA, 269, 296, 334, 346, 377,
379
Quintus Curtius, 141, 161
Samarkand, modern, 212-4

public buildings, 213
citadel,
216
Bighistan, 216, 218, 220
RAILWAYS, Central Asian, 34-6

De^cauville, 40, 58
Sind-Pishin, 40, 50, 846
Indo-Bussian, 18, 100, 267-71
Persian, 875-7, 879-81
Euphrates Valley, 378
Transcaspian, vide Transcaspian Railway

Bawlinson, Sir H., 157, 161, 884
Bawul Pindi, 845, 847
Resht, 375
Beshta, the, 195-7, 248
Bidgeway, Sir W., 180, 865
Bighistan of Bokhara, 182-8
of Samarkand, 216, 218, 220
Boads in Central Asia, 400
Boberts, Sir F., 812, 828
Boborovski, Lieutenant, 250
Bomanovski, General, 317, 840,
897
Bosenbach, General, 17, 19, 147,
150, 241-4, 261
Boshan, 358
Bozgonoff, Colonel, 828
Russian designs upon India, 11,
12, 315,
819-823
invasion of India, 297, 323-38,
841-9
illusions about India, 884-41
character, 20, 21, 22, 28, 25,
92, 230, 276, 317, 888-9, 892 -5
prestige, 270, 276, 866-8
commercial policy, 279 et seq.
Government, 24, 816, 401

Russians in Central Asia, the, 119,
171, 174, 198, 227, 240, 252,
253, 259, 267, 296, 366, 888-5,
et
Buy
Chap. X. passimde Clavijo, vide Clavijo
SAMANXDS, the, 162
Samarkand,
1, 2, 45, 61, 62, 99,

125, 148, 197, 207, 208,
210-32, 242, 248, 256, 261, 278,
297, 805, 899, 896, 400, 429
109,
210
monuments, 211
district,
prison, 217
ancient, 217
medresses, 220-1
population, 280
Sandeman, Sir B., 868
Sands, the, 65, 56, 108-4, 140-8
Sanjur Sultan, 110, 186
Sarakhs, 96, 100, 118, 121, 188,
252, 266, 273-4, 298, 294, 296,
298, 818, 888, 401
Saratov, 299
Sari Batir Khan, 182
Sarik Turkomans, vide Turko-
mans
Sari Yazi, 298
Sarts, the, 239, 243, 244, 249
Sary Kamisk lakes, 403-4

Saxaoul, the, 57, 75, 142
Schuyler, Eugene, 4, 158, 166, 184,
190, 217, 221, 242, 248
Sebzewar, 268
Seistan, 377, 879-80
Seljuks, the, 110, 186, 162
S4in<*noff, M., 66, 248, 248, 259
Semipalatinsk, 256
Sernirechinsk, 256, 410
Sericulture, 254, 407
Shadman Melik, 286
Shah of Persia, the, 98, 374, 876,
436-9
Jehan, 228
Murad, 137, 168, 194
Zindeh, 218, 226-7
Shahrud, 287, 804
Shakespear, Richmond, 4, 111
Sheibani Mehemmed Khan, 163
Shibergan, 282, 860
Shignan, 358
Shinwarris, the, 868
Shir Ali, 252, 295, 828, 880, 856,
861, 864, 868
Shir Dar Medresse, 220
Shiraz, 228, 878, 380
Siah-Koh, 860
Siakh Push, 112
Siberia, 253, 254,
Sibi,
4C8
846
Simonitch, Count, 268

Sind-Pishin Railway, 44, 50, 8^6
476
TRA
BIB
Siripul, 282, 860
Skobeleff, General, 10, 87-40, 78,
76, 78-92, 111, 126, 128, 129,
188, 298, 802, 807, 822, 824,

884, 885, 860, 889, 896-7, 400
on the Transcaspian Kail-
way, 40,
42,
48
character
84, 86-92
for invasion
of,
scheme
of
India, 822-8, 827-80

Slavery in Bokhara, 160
Soboleff, General, 811, 886
Stewart, Colonel G., 4
Stoddart, Colonel, 8, 110, 165, 179,
184
Stolietoff mission, the, 292,
St. Petersburg, 15, 28, 262,
828
277
Stretensk, 268
Sukkur, 846-7
Sultan Bend, the, 117
Syr Daria,
the, 85, 288, 255,
province,
268,
254,
261
257,
409
TABRIZ, 287, 288, 289

Taganrog, 824
Tajiks, the, 158, 171, 285, 274
Takhta Bazar, 294, 298, 401
Taldik Pass, 842
Tamerlane or Timour, 186, 142,
144, 168, 176, 211, 218, 217,
222, 225, 281, 880
tomb
Tchinaz, 235, 288

Tchiraktchi, 159
Tchirtchik, the, 238
Teheran, 101, 268, 275, 287, 804,

332, 874-5
Tejend, the, 53, 102, 302, 403, vide
also Heri Bud
oasis, the, 71, 96, 102, 131, 252
Tekme Sirdar, 79
Terentieff, Captain, 337
Tergukasoff, General, 87
Thai Chotiali, 846
Thibet, 251
Thompson, George, 164
Thomson, Taylour, 4, 111
Tiflis, 2, 16, 29, 294, 299, 429
Tillah Kari medresse, 220, 222
Times Correspondent, the, 6, 18,
114, 184, 190, 272
Tochi Pass, 345
Todd, D'Arcy, 369
Tomsk, 263
Transcaspia, province of, 45, 95,
281, 292, 293, 802, 874
climate of, 75
population of, 96, 252
resources of, 96
taxation of, 97, 281
commerce of, 99
Transcaspian Railway, the, literature
completion, 45, 811

military character, 47-8
material, 48
of,
workmen, 49
method of construction, 51
Tashkent, 84, 124, 214, 282, 235,

289-50, 256, 261, 268, 285, 292,
805, 840, 400, 406
population and society, 239,
cost,
68
speed, 54
difficulties,
Government House, 248
54-8
rolling-stock, 59, 60, 272

stations, 61
duration and cost ofjourney,
public buildings, 245-8
museum, 247
Tcharikoff, M., 160, 170, 185, 189
Tcharjui,45, 68, 55, 148, 145, 148,
161, 262, 264, 805, 829, 848, 408
Tohernaieif, General, 11, 48, 241,
246, 249, 292, 817, 885
Tchikishliar, 88, 298
52
facilities,
240
native city, 249, 260

Tashkurgan, 806, 848
commencement, 40
218-20
gates of, 285, 287
Tarantass, the, 288
Targanoif, 858
of,
origin, 37
62
attitude of natives, 154-5,
180, 215
extensions, 238, 261-71
favourable estimate, 271-2
political effects,
commercial
407
278-6
effects,
276-91,
INDEX
477
TBA
Transcaspian Railway, strategical
effects, 291-810, 871
Russian views of, 810-12
Travellers in Central Asia, British,
4, 101, 111, 164-6
Trebeck, George, 165

Trebizond, 289, 290
Troitsk, 256
Tsaritsin, 299
Turis, the, 878
Turkestan, 34, 273, 274, 278, 281,
292, 293, 402, 406, 409
population of, 252-3

resources and trade
of,
253-6,
budget
of,
of,
257-8
258
horses, 73, 129, 130

militia, the, 127-30
Turkomania, 34, 265, 273-5
Turkomans, Tekke, the, 37, 49, 50,
79, 83-4, 92 3, 103, 107, 111,
113, 172, 892
118-20
Verestchagin, V., 89
Verny, 251
Vitkievitch, 325
Vladikavkaz 2, 27, 299
Petrovsk railway, 2
Tiflis railway, 2
Vladivostok, 268
85, 275
96, 107, 113,
Salor, 96, 113, 133,
2, 48,
299
Water in Transcaspia,
54, 55,
402
Wolff, Dr. Joseph, 8, 4, 110, 111,
165
YAKUB KHAN, 856

Yasin, 342
Yate, Captain A. C., 102, 131, 869,
Yomud,
Sank,
7, 160, 164,
166, 883
Vanoffski, General, 17, 27
WAKHAN, 858
Turkoman
of,
VAMBKRY, AKMINIUS, 4,
Volga, the,
military strength of, 305

Gazette, the, 279, 280
Afghan, vide Afghan
character
32, 46, 54, 55, 60, 61,
68-6, 152, 281, 299, 801
Vlangali, General, 17
VogUe", Vicomte de, 8
281
government
Uzun Ada,
383
133
275
Major C. E., 7, 867, 369

Yenghi Kala, 79
Goklan, 275
Ersari, 275
Alieli, 275
Chadar, 275
Emrali, 275
Ata, 275
Yezd, 380
the, vide Turkomans
Ynletan, 96, 118, 115, 183, 252,
Yomuds,
274
Yussuf Khan, 132
UjFALVY-BouRDON, Madame
216, 221, 244
Ulug Beg, 220, 235, 237
Umballa Conference, 368
de,
Ura Tepe, 897

Uzbegs, the, 153, 163, 285, 865,
869
f&oltistfoo tc
ZEEAFSHAN, the, 153, 197, 202, 205,

229, 236, 248, 261
canals and irrigation, 205-6,
210
province, 252-8, 255, 257
Zinovieff, M., 17, 382, 885, 486
Zlatoust, 263
Zulfikar, 100, 344
& Co. Printers, New-Ureet Square, London.

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DAMAGE BOOK

TEXT FLY & TEXT

ANGLO -BU SSI AN QUESTION

FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLKQK, OXFORD

Upon the Russian frontier, where

TO THE GREAT ARMY OF

DEDICATE THIS BOOK

WHICH WILL BE FOUND EQUALLY DISRESPECTFUL

AND THE PERVERSE COMPLACENCY OF THE OTHERS

Manchester Courier and other lead-

ing English provincial newspapers, in the months of

were descriptive of a journey which I

Exigencies of space, however, and

the limitations of journalistic propriety, prevented me

and were, of course,

Written, too, at a distance from works of refer-

and depending in some cases upon testimony

former articles contained errors which I have since been

RCNMA IX CKSTRAL ASIA

These considerations, and the desire

which I traversed, have encouraged

been enabled to add a mass of entirely new

perceptibly retained, it is because I am

sometimes shrunk from depriving my narrative of such

In. tlie absence

extremely difficult to acquire

&c., I have industriously studied.

that substantial accuracy may be predicated of these

of explanation as to what these chap-

and what they do

not, profess to be.

tensions are of no very exalted order.

Their preare, in the

main, a record of a journey, taken under circumstances

longer in its physical remoteness and impenetrability,

superseded by a new order of

of bringing it under the stern and immediate

old of international war.

Travel nowadays, at least in

parts to which the railway has penetrated, is unattended

cadence which separates my story by a wide gulf of

amid suspicious and

peoples, over burning

he follows in comparative comfort the

once admire their heroism and profit by their experience.

most remote competition.

RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA

with the Eussian language, devoted years of patient

have produced many valuable

for the instruction of their fellow-countrymen.

not, however, start

written without subsequent study of every available

them is that of posteriority in point

peared on this branch of the Central Asian Question

incalculable advance in the character